Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has sent a subtle warning to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang by declaring that no one in his team is undroppable.
This was in direct response to a question about Aubameyang amid the Gabon international’s hugely worrying goal drought, with the Gunners striker not looking his usual self at all so far this season.
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Arteta has now suggested that Aubameyang may need to up his game or he genuinely risks losing his place in the Arsenal starting XI – something that would have been absolutely unthinkable even just a few months ago.
The 31-year-old is a world class centre-forward on his day, having scored 29 goals in all competitions last season, and 31 goals the year before.
Before arriving at Arsenal, Aubameyang was also well established as one of Europe’s most clinical finishers at former club Borussia Dortmund.
Now, however, he may want to take Arteta’s words on board after his dip in form in the early part of this season.
“No-one is undroppable,” Arteta said in response to a question about Aubameyang, as quoted by the Metro.
“At the end of the day you have to find the right players to win football matches.
“But we cannot forget what Auba has done for this club and what he has done in recent months, or a year ago.”
Arteta added that he felt Aubameyang was training well and that he had faith in him putting in all the effort required to turn his form around.
He added: “As well because I see how he is training, how he is behaving, how much he wants to turn this situation around.
“And when I see that type of hunger, I stay strong to support that player with his status in the team and the performances that he has provided for this group.”
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Arteta is proving to be a big mistake for Arsenal. His tactics are not suited to the players we have. We have a world class Striker that was scoring for fun, the last couple of seasons, but now appears unable to hit a barn door . A central striker who was quite effective in the previous seasons, but now looks as if he’s just there to make up the numbers. a world class right back who now appears at best mediocre. He has brought in a midfield player on a free transfer that normally put in good performances for his old club, but his contribution for Arsenal have been somewhat lacklustre. He has frozen out the player considered to be one of the worlds best creative midfielders. It looks to me that the players no longer have faith in him. His decision to bring Partey back before he had fully recovered from injury, and keeping Luiz on the pitch with an obvious head injury, will not have boosted the players confidence in him either. I look to the next five league games and on current form we will be lucky to get 2 points from them. I think the only thing Arteta is likely to win this season is the sack race.