Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has now missed our last two Arsenal games after his “breach of discipline”, and one has to say that the team has has played brilliantly without our former top scorer and scored five goals without reply.
The win against West Ham last night was particularly special, and has put us up in the Top Four at last, but who came in to take Aubameyang’s place? Lacazette was the new captain, and Mikel Arteta gave him special praise after the game. The boss told Arsenal.com: “Well he’s the next in line [for the armband] and he’s taken it the way everybody saw today – with such a pride and commitment, and I’m really happy with the way he played.”
And did he think Lacazette is relishing the captaincy role? “Absolutely – but Laca has always been like that in the dressing room. You see the way he acts with the young players, how willing he is to help. It’s in his nature. He’s not a selfish player. He’s happy when he makes the rest better, and he’s like that in the dressing room as well.”
So, if Laca is now the confirmed new captain, surely he should now be starting most games?
And the young Martinelli was brought in as well to give Arteta even more selection headaches. The Brazilian scored another brilliant goal, and Arteta was asked if it was his best game yet for the Gunners. “Well certainly it was one of the best in every aspect of the game. He was cramping again and he needs to mature in that sense but his overall understanding of the game is getting much better. He’s able to put some gears into his play. Sometimes he’s still doing everything at 100 miles per hour but the energy and quality he shows at times is top.”
Gabi is going to be very hard to drop now that he is fully fit and firing on all cylinders.
Even Smith-Rowe, who started on the bench, managed to come on and dazzle us with the decisive second goal to put the game to bed. He is now our clear top scorer, and with both Lacazette and Odegaard also climbing the scoring charts, and with Saka undroppable, I am failing to see how Arteta can even justify putting Aubameyang back into the starting line up, unless we get a glut of injuries at the same time.
Do you think that Aubameyang is now set for an extended period sitting on the bench? Could he become a supersub?