Arsenal beat Leeds United 4-2 in the Premier League on Sunday as forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored a hattrick against Bielsa’s side.
The Gabon international has missed a few games in 2021 due to personal reasons but his return has really helped the Gunners’ form and after their latest win, Arsenal are now 10th on the league table with 34 points.
Aubameyang has played in 20 Premier League games so far this season and in those matches, he’s netted eight goals and provided one assist.
In his absence, Nicolas Pepe was playing on the left wing and many pundits thought that Pepe would keep his place in the side due to his recent form. But as soon as Aubameyang was fully ready to come back into the side, Arteta pushed Nicolas Pepe to the bench and the results are there for everyone to see.
Some people think the Arsenal manager could hand Pepe back the left-winger’s role in the next few games and then use Auba through the middle. And speaking on this very same topic, Arteta has reciprocated with a positive response.
He said after the match, as per Arsenal.com: “We have the option[of using Auba through the middle]. Depending on the game, on the opponent, depending on the areas we want to exploit and how we want to make the game easier for him. I thought that it could be a good option for him today and it worked well.
“He’s been training really well in the last week or so, he was back to normal, he looked really committed in training, really hungry.
“I think today he had a great performance, not only for the goals but for the way he worked without the ball as well. The amount of pressure he put on every Leeds defender and he set the tone for the team. I’m delighted for him, he deserves it.
“We know that a big part of our future success is related to Auba being at his best and scoring as many goals as possible.
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“If he is in that kind of form we’re going to be closer to winning football matches, that’s clear. We can’t just rely on him but he’s a big piece of our parcel and you saw today again today, when he’s firing he’s a very difficult player to play against.”
Pepe has done fairly well on the left-hand side but if Aubameyang is fit then there’s no way the Ivorian will get to play in that position.
But since Auba can play as a proper centre-forward as well, Mikel Arteta could use this particular formation in the coming few months. Arsenal face teams like Man City and Leicester City in their next few Premier League matches but we don’t expect Arteta to make experiments in these crucial games.
The Gunners are back in Europe this week when they take on Benfica and there’s a big chance that Nicolas Pepe could get a chance to play on the left wing once again since the manager could rest Aubameyang.
