Arsenal: And that’s why you start Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

Arsenal started Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang against Vorskla, despite his regular playing time in the Premier League, and he proved exactly why.

Of all the players that Unai Emery chose for his Europa League opener against FC Vorskla, only three were Premier League regulars for Arsenal. Nacho Monreal started because he had to, we had no other options. Sokratis started because clearly I’m still missing something about Mavropanos being ready.

But for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, there really wasn’t a clear and pressing need to start him. He would have put Welbeck up front or he could have started Eddie Nketiah. He did neither things, instead sticking with a man who is seeing plenty of playing time in England as well.

And Aubameyang showed us exactly why he was put out there against the Ukranian side. Because there was a stark difference between the Aubameyang we’ve been seeing in the Premier League and the one that we saw against Vorskla. No, I’m not just talking about the goals, I’m talking about the confidence.

But… also the goals.

Aubameyang has only scored one goal (like half of the senior team) in the Premier League. That is more than a bit shabby when you consider that he has taken 12 shots and should absolutely be converting more of them.

Of course, we think of the one he skied over the net against Chelsea with a wide open goal in front of him.

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Still, against Vorskla, a team that he had to be brimming with anticipation to go up against, Aubameyang didn’t just score two goals. he scored two goals that were not easy to take, make no mistake about it.

The first was a flippy, twisty, turvy, across-the-goal beauty that was a top class finish no matter who you’re playing against. And the second was a snap hook from a considerable distance that dipped and dove around the keeper.

These are shots that it takes confidence to take and skill to finish. We know Aubameyang has the skill, but his confidence has been drooping lately.

He’s going to look much different against Everton, you wait and see. He is going to look like a new man, he is going to slot home at least one goal and you can bet that that thirst for goal is going to be perfectly obvious yet again.

And that is why you start him against Vorskla even though it wasn’t necessary. A little jolt of confidence does the trick.