Photo by Giuseppe Maffia/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Photo by Giuseppe Maffia/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Arsenal have started this season pretty well, it has to be said.
Yes, the loss to Brighton at the weekend represented a pretty serious bump in the road, but four wins from five is about as well as any Premier League team can expect to start.
Mikel Arteta has built a team that has now proven they’re capable of winning and competing for the biggest trophies, and you wouldn’t back against Arsenal winning the Premier League again this season.
However, the road to this point hasn’t always been smooth sailing.
Indeed, Mikel Arteta has had to contend with his fair share of challenges at Arsenal, from a global pandemic to the formation of a Super League all the way to managing Matteo Guendouzi.
However, perhaps the most notable issue Arteta has faced during his time at Arsenal was his spat with the club-captain and star player, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang back in the 2021/22 season.
The story of Aubameyang and Arteta’s falling outs have been told a million times over, so we won’t bore you with that, but, what is interesting to note is how Aubameyang is performing now, almost five years on from leaving Arsenal.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on Mikel Arteta
Credit: Getty Images/IAN KINGTON/IKIMAGES/AFP
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is still one of Europe’s best
Remarkably, at the age of 37, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is still proving himself to be among Europe’s elite goalscorers.
Many believed the Gabonese forward was finished at the top level half a decade ago, but he does just keep scoring goals.
Yes, it was easy to write off the goals Aubameyang was scoring over in Saudi Arabia a couple of years ago, but he hit double figures in Ligue 1 last season for a seriously disjointed Marseille side, and he’s doing it again now in La Liga.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Bukayo Saka (Arsenal’s top attacking performer)
Games 7 5
Goals 5 3
Assists 2 0
Seven goal contributions in seven league games is a greater tally than any Arsenal player has managed this season – and this isn’t in some two-bob league, this is in La Liga – largely agreed to be the second-best league in the world.
On top of that, this is for a newly-promoted Deportivo La Coruna side that aren’t supposed to score many goals at this level.
Aubameyang, at the age of 37, is still one of the best players in Europe in front of goal, and who knows? Maybe if things had gone a little bit differently between him and Mikel Arteta, he would still be at Arsenal offering something to a frontline that has so often needed a different dynamic in tight moments.
Somehow, Aubameyang is still writing new chapters in his career at this age.