Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta came out with his response for Chelsea striker Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang warning the Gunners ahead of their weekend showdown. Aubameyang, a former Gunner himself who had to leave the club and eventually join FC Barcelona after a contract termination in January this year, returned to London, this time with Chelsea in the summer.
A decorated player in North London, having captained the Gunners to FA Cup glory in 2020 under Arteta, Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang’s departure was not a glorious one. The striker fell out with Arteta and the Arsenal manager himself green light his contract termination earlier this year. Aubameyang then joined Barca as a free agent, and enjoyed a short spell in Spain where he scored 13 goals in 24 games until the end of the last season.
Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang looking to settle his score with Arteta
With the Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang chapter closed in North London, it reopened in West London as Chelsea, on the request of their former manager Thomas Tuchel brought in the the Gabonese this summer. Tuchel and Aubameyang share a good relationship from their time at Borussia Dortmund, and the German after losing his two strikers Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner wanted the 33-year-old to fulfill the void.
However, Tuchel got the axe one week after his former associate’s arrival as they both could only enjoy a reunion of a mere 59 minutes. But the former Arsenal striker has got going under new manager Graham Potter and now aims to settle his score with Arteta who ousted him. In a new ad released by BT Sport featuring Aubameyang ahead of Chelsea vs Arsenal clash, the striker fires warning to his former club as he says:
“Arsenal, nothing personal, I’m back, I’m blue, I’m ready.”
Arteta was then asked to comment on the Chelsea striker’s statement, as the Arsenal boss replied:
“You expect players to do that. If you ask any of our players how they feel about where they are, they will say the same. [Aubameyang] Very dangerous. If Auba has something, it’s the ability to put the ball in the back of the net and he’s going to be doing that until the day that he decides he’s had enough of football. We will have to look first of all at what Chelsea do and try to put a plan together to avoid that.”
The Spaniard was further asked to shed some light on his time with Aubameyang during his closing stages at the club, Arteta revealed:
“Nothing, we made decisions, we discussed things and we made a clear decision between all of us. It’s a decision that we had to take and there are different parties involved. At the end of the day, when someone is not with us anymore and being a player and having the role that he had at the club and how important he was, you always wish everybody the best. When someone makes that decision to move somewhere else, they need to enjoy their profession and he seems to be happy.”
Aubameyang is hailed as a legend by many at Arsenal, having scored a massive 92 goals in 163 appearances for the club in all competitions, also winning the Premier League Golden Boot during the 2018/19 season, his first full campaign with the Gunners. However, he will be on the opposite side of the line now as Arteta and Arsenal will look to down him for a second time to keep their lead at the top of the league table intact.