Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the former Arsenal captain, is not practicing with the rest of the first-team squad and will not play against Leeds. Mikel Arteta believes that the captaincy selection was correct. On Saturday, Arsenal travels to Leeds, which will be shown live on Sky Sports Premier League at 5.30 p.m.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will not play against Leeds in the Premier League on Saturday.
After a disciplinary transgression, Arteta has stripped Aubameyang of his captaincy and ordered him to practice apart from the rest of the first-team group.
Arteta was unable to provide any information on when Aubameyang might return, and while the Arsenal manager was able to confirm that the Gabon striker would miss Saturday’s match against Leeds – which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Premier League – he otherwise remained tight-lipped on the situation.
“No, he’s not available for selection,” Arteta said, dismissing speculation about Aubameyang’s future.”
Every time you sit here, you have certain obstacles,” Arteta remarked when asked how he had dealt with the aftermath of taking the armband from Aubameyang.
“You have wonderful moments and moments where you must make decisions.”Every day, I sit here trying to make the best judgments I can. My sole goal is to get the club in the greatest possible shape, to defend our players, and to achieve the best possible results on the field.”
It’s been difficult because those decisions are difficult and unpleasant, but you must do what you believe is right.”
Aubameyang’s return to Arsenal appears to be a difficult one.When you do what you do to the club captain, and from the outside looking in, Arteta has done it pretty rightly.
You have to wonder how Aubameyang feels right now. In the first place, his confidence on the field didn’t appear to be great.
I believe he has approximately 18 months left on his contract, and I’m sure Arteta would like to sell him at this stage, but someone on £350,000-a-week is going to be difficult to move on, unless they do what they did with Mesut Ozil and offer him a huge sum of money, forcing him to accept less elsewhere.
It’s an issue that Arteta didn’t need, but it’s now a major task for Arsenal to rebuild their attack, which will rely on some really shrewd and imaginative recruitment.
Arteta is seeking more information on the Covid postponements.
Mikel Arteta, Arsenal’s head coach, has demanded clarity on the Covid situation and why games may or may not be canceled.
Arteta has asked the Premier League for greater clarification on the increased number of games that have been postponed due to coronavirus infections at teams.
The English Football League has been hit hard by the latest wave of infections across the country, with 14 games disrupted thus far across all three levels.
Despite having a number of positive cases in the squad, Arsenal’s first game of the new season was played at Brentford.
“We need greater clarification on why those games aren’t being played and what you need to not have a game played,” Arteta added, “so you can retain the competition’s fairness.”
“We were on the other side of the table (at the start of the season) with all the reasons in the world not to play a football match, and we ended up playing it.”
