Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was not featured against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, March 14, to the dismay of many who were not expecting that coach Mikel Arteta could leave out the striker in such an important game.
Before the Premier League match which took place at the Emirates Stadium, Mikel Arteta revealed that he had to leave out Aubameyang from the team’s starting eleven due to a disciplinary breach. However, the Spanish tactician did not disclose what the breach was about.
He said: “We have drawn the line, we move on, and he is on the bench. We have a process for every game that we have to respect. It was a decision made after evaluating everything and who Auba is and what he’s done.
“We have other players who can play. Recently we have changed the team quite a lot and some players are willing to play and deserve a chance, so I’m comfortable with that.”
Aubameyang who was initially meant to play ahead of his strike partner Alexandre Lacazette ended up on the bench. The 31-year-old Gabonese striker was not featured throughout the game.
Despite the absence of the club’s talisman, Arsenal went all out to defeat Jose Mourinho and his boys at the Emirates Stadium 2-1. After the game, Mikel Arteta insisted that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is still one of the most important players at Arsenal.
“He’s one of the most important players in the team, he’s our captain, but these things happen. We move forward and we enjoy the victory tonight”, he said.
“We have a lot of things going on in our lives, people are finding it difficult to handle a lot of the restrictions and it’s part of our job.”
On the other hand, the manager of Tottenham Hotspur, Jose Mourinho said after the 2-1 defeat in the hands of Arsenal that his big players did not show up in the game.
The Portuguese tactician criticized the center-referee, Michael Oliver for awarding a penalty to Arsenal which Lacazette scored in the 64th minute to end the game 2-1.
“In the first half we were really bad”, Jose Mourinho told Sky Sports after the game.
“No intensity, no pressing. In terms of creating attacking football, some important players were hiding. In the second half, we only had to improve which we did.
“We recovered what we lost in the first half which was the control of the game. We made changes to try and win and then the penalty and a second yellow card for Lamela. In the final 25-30 minutes the team tried to get a result.
“I’m not going to mention individuals as the team is the team. I belong to the team and I am just as guilty as the players for that first half. The good thing is we really improved in the second half as we came to the second half with a completely different control of the game. We made changes to what we thought would improve the team. Even playing with 10 men.”
The 2-1 win has kept Arsenal rooted in the 10th spot on the league table with 41 points in 28 games. While the defeat left Tottenham Hotspur rooted on the 7th spot on the league table with 45 points in 28 games.
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 🔴
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) March 14, 2021
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