Mikel Arteta waited until the final 10 minutes to bring Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang off the bench, preferring two frontmen who will be out of contract in 2022
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Arteta invites Wenger to return to Arsenal in some capacity
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s struggles in front of goal are no secret, with the Arsenal captain’s miss against Newcastle United illuminating the problem.
Only five players have scored more Premier League goals for Arsenal than the Gabonese striker, but his recent difficulties – five games without a goal before the trip to Everton – might explain Mikel Arteta’s decision to leave him on the bench for the trip to Goodison Park.
Less explicable was the decision to bring on Eddie Nketiah with 20 minutes remaining, leaving the captain on the bench until after the hosts had drawn level.
Even without Nketiah’s late miss, when he headed against the woodwork with minutes remaining, Arteta’s decision to opt for two men who could leave on a free next summer was certainly a curious one.
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“Well, you always are [concerned] when your main striker isn’t scoring goals but he is trying his hardest,” Arteta said before the game.
“He is aware of how much we need him as a team to score goals and at the moment, they are not coming but the rest of the things we are asking him to do, he is trying his best.”
A late Aubameyang miss won’t have helped lift the mood, with the striker missing the target with the last kick off the game, but questions about Arteta’s decision-making go beyond the big chances faced by the Londoners.
Lacazette has admitted his agents are “starting to look to the right and to the left” as his contract approaches its end, while there have also been indications from Nketiah that he sees his future away from the Emirates Stadium.
Nketiah is not expected to renew his deal, with a number of clubs overseas monitoring the situation as the 22-year-old becomes available.
While 32-year-old Aubameyang might not be the long-term future of the club, one imagines he’s at least a longer-term option than two men who could well be playing their football elsewhere just a few months from now.
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Much of the positivity around Arsenal this season has focused on Arteta’s willingness to build for the next few years, not just the next few weeks.
Aaron Ramsdale has been a huge asset since replacing the more experienced Bernd Leno in goal, while 23-year-old Takehiro Tomiyasu and 24-year-old Ben White have played a big part in helping the Gunners recover from a slow start.
This makes the apparent short-termism of Arteta’s attacking decisions all the more confusing: amid a group of players who seem settled and ready to build together, the short-term gains of players apparently on their way out don’t seem big enough to justify the calls made by the manager.
When it became clear that Mesut Ozil was leaving Arsenal, the boss made no attempt to reintegrate the German at the start of the 2020-21 season and instead found ways to kick on with a group of players which didn’t include him.
It may be the case that Arteta was using the game as a last-gasp attempt to get Nketiah back on side, convincing him he is valued and can benefit from renewing his deal in the knowledge that chances will come, and the same might well be true of Lacazette.
However, by taking this approach, he has run the risk of exacerbating Aubameyang’s problems with no tangible benefit at the end, either on the pitch or off it.
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