The Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang saga has been the talk of the town for the last couple of days, which has taken the focus away from the matters on the pitch.
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Arsenal are gearing up for an important clash against West Ham United in the Premier League on Wednesday. Ideally, on paper, the Gunners will be heading into that crunch clash on a positive note following their impressive 3-0 victory over Southampton at the weekend. But, the reality is different. The Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang saga has been the talk of the town for the last couple of days, which has taken the focus away from the matters on the pitch. The 32-year-old forward has been stripped of the Arsenal captaincy and will not be selected for Wednesday’s match against West Ham.
Manager Mikel Arteta had also dropped Aubameyang from the squad that beat Southampton on Saturday over the player reportedly returning late from a trip abroad. This is not the ideal situation with which Arteta would have wanted his team to face the fellow London club on Wednesday, but unfortunately, the unwanted distraction caused by the Gabonese forward dominated the manager’s pre-match press conference on Tuesday.
“I don’t have much more to say, I think it’s a real clear statement from the club. It’s a decision we have made following the last incident that we had with the players and this is where we stand,” Arteta said on the captaincy decision, as per their club’s website. Stressed about how many incidents there have been, he replied, “I don’t mind you asking but I can’t go any further on that as you can believe. When we had to make that decision, it was because it was the right one to defend the interests of the football club.”
An update on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) December 14, 2021
Mikel Arteta revealed that he and officials from the club held private conversations with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to inform him of their decision. Asked about who the next captain could be, “Well we have the leadership group and we have different players who have been nominated to be captain, in the last game it was Laca, we had had Granit who has been captain as well, so we will follow that. It is a really unpleasant situation and it is not the moment to any rash decision,” he explained.
“That leadership group is really strong, it is the one that communicates with myself and the coaching staff and with the club in a really strong and clear way and we are going to continue that. That is one of the decisions we make, to make that group a little bit better and try to educate them and try to get the right feedback all the time and build the trust and a strong culture around the club. It is working really well so we will continue to do that.”
When asked about how important the appointment of the next captain is, Arteta revealed, “It’s really important but for me having the leadership group is something that has been tremendously helpful because then you get different voices. It is a really multicultural dressing room that needs a lot of attention and different feelings and different languages, they all have to be involved and I’m comfortable with that.”
The Spaniard then spoke about the impact of the decision on the dressing room. “They accept the decision and I think they know because they have committed to it and they have demanded it, that we want to take our culture and our demands, and who do we want to be as a club and how we want to represent this club to a different level. When those standards are not met, you know you cannot participate in our daily basics,” he explained.
Arsenal are currently sitting sixth in the Premier League table with 26 points, while West Ham are sitting two places above them in fourth (28) after 16 matches. Asked how impressed he has been with David Moyes’ side, Arteta said, “Very much, and for me one of the best teams in the league. This period… the understanding that they have, the clarity in what they want to do and how much they are able to hurt teams with the way they play has been impressive and they have been really really consistent.”
