BEVERLY HILLS, December 21, (THEWILL) –Â Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been the most potent forward the English Premier League side Arsenal can boast of in the time he has been in the North London outfit scoring 22 goals in 36 outings in the 2018/2019 and the 2019/2020 seasons.
Whenever Arsenal needed goals to unlock a tight fixture, they turned to their Gabonese captain for inspiration and he found a way to crack open the defence and produce the goods, shaking the nets with the regularity of a connoisseur that led him to winning the coveted Golden Boot award in 2019 for the previous season.
For the present campaign, however, goals appeared to have deserted him and by extension, due to how much the team relies on the creative goal-scoring prowess of Aubameyang, so have goals appeared to have deserted the team. Languishing in 15th, Arsenal have only managed 12 goals and conceded 18 after 14 matches.
For a team that needs goals and plenty of them, no less, it is a blow to the gut of many an Arsenal fan to discover that Arsenal will be without Aubameyang in Tuesday’s English Football League (EFL) Cup quarter-final with a heavily tactical side like Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
The 31-year old was a telling absence in the 2-1 loss at Everton and centre back Rob Holding felt beholden to take over his own-goal duties in a match that pitifully extended the Gunners’ winless domestic run to seven games. The cause of what may be a brief period on the sidelines turned out to be a tight calf.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta confirmed on Monday that the striker was improving but insisted that he will be unavailable to face Pep Guardiola’s side at the Emirates Stadium.
“Auba is feeling much better and he was more positive yesterday [Sunday] than in the previous two days. He will have another scan in the next few days and we will see how quickly we can get him back in the team.
“We know how important he is for us and he feels that responsibility and he is trying his best to be back fit as quickly as possible. For the rest, I don’t think we’re going to have any news today before training.
“Auba is not fit for tomorrow, that’s for sure. He won’t be playing tomorrow so we will see who is available because we have a few doubts as well in other positions. We want to get together a very competitive team because we know the level of City and we want to win the game tomorrow.”
It is possible for the team to prosecute the match against City without their talisman who appears to have been jinxed this season but a win against the resurgent blue side of Manchester on the lookout for victories to maintain the buoyancy in the side and keep the winning mentality going will be a tall ask. Arteta knows this and may be preparing for a soft landing with his comments.
However, if they do not find a path to getting goals outside the boots of the Gabonese, they may have simply set themselves up for failure. City will be there to teach them that stark lesson.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
