Arsenal take on Norwich City in the Premier League and before the Boxing Day game, Mikel Arteta has dropped a significant update regarding Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The Gabon international has fallen down the pecking order at the club and rumours are ripe that the North London side are actively trying to sell him off during the January transfer window.
Arteta has reportedly been frustrated with Auba’s indiscipline in recent months and things have gone so much out of hand that earlier this month, the forward was stripped of his captaincy.
The forward’s last game for Arsenal came earlier this month when he played only five minutes vs Everton and in his latest pre-match press conference, Mikel Arteta has indicated that Aubameyang’s future might have already been decided.
Will Aubameyang start against Norwich City?
When the Arsenal manager was asked about the possibility of Auba starting on Sunday, here’s what Arteta had to say.
“We will go game by game and decide the squad as we get closer to the game. What I said is that we make the squad the day before and today, as it’s still Wednesday, I haven’t done the squad.”
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang arriving at Arsenal’s London Colney training ground this morning, a full hour & a half before any other player. [The Sun via ISO] #afc pic.twitter.com/DmxTgElTxD
— afcstuff (@afcstuff) December 17, 2021
From the manager’s statement, it’s pretty evident that Aubameyang has already played his final game for the club and he’s very much frozen out of the first-team squad.
He’s obviously a star player at the club but this season he’s hardly made an impact, scoring just four goals in 14 Premier League matches.
Without the forward, Arsenal have done perfectly well and Alexandre Lacazette has more than a great job as the main frontman.
There’s no way Aubameyang will feature in any capacity for Arsenal on Sunday and it will be a miracle if we get to see him on the pitch in an Arsenal shirt anymore.
Against Norwich City, Lacazette will lead the line with Gabriel Martinelli playing on the left wing while England international Bukayo Saka plays on the right-hand side.
