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What Alexandre Lacazette told Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang before Arsenal’s penalty against Man Utd


Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored from the spot as Arsenal beat Manchester United (Getty Images)

Alexandre Lacazette gave Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang a vote of confidence as he instructed his strike partner to take a penalty during Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Manchester United at the Emirates.

Aubameyang missed a crucial penalty in the final moments of last weekend’s north London derby against Spurs which meant that Arsenal drew the game 1-1 rather than winning it.

Arsenal were awarded a second spot-kick in as many league games against United and Aubameyang might have been worried about taking it considering what happened at Wembley.

However, after some gentle encouragement from Lacazette, Aubameyang took hold of the ball and dispatched it beyond David De Gea to double Arsenal’s advantage and settle the contest.

Lacazette called out ‘Auba’ in direction of his teammate and directed him to take the penalty with the Gabonese striker duly following the Frenchman’s instructions.

After the game, Aubameyang admitted that Lacazette’s words helped him, saying: ‘I was confident. All my teammates gave me a lot of confidence. Laca gave me the penalty and that was cool from him.

‘I was really focused. I looked down at the last moment and I missed [the penalty against Tottenham]. Being focused, you score a penalty.

‘We have to practise this all the time and today it went in.’

There were some complaints by United’s players that the penalty award was soft as Lacazette went down under a challenge from Fred, however, Arsenal will not care one bit about their opponents protestations.

Aubameyang and Lacazette celebrated together after he converted his penalty (Getty Images)

Aubameyang’s strike boosted his chances of winning the Premier League golden boot as it moved him to 17 league goals for the campaign – only Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero with 18 has scored more. Tottenham’s Harry Kane and Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah are also on 17.

It was also Aubameyang’s 20th goal in all competitions this term meaning he became the first Arsenal player to reach that total since Alexis Sanchez managed it during the 2016-17 season.

Arsenal’s win has moved them up to fourth in the Premier League table and just one point behind Spurs in third.





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