Arsenal: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang exactly who he was, and that’s fine

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has missed more big chances than any other player in the Premier League. The Arsenal striker, though, is exactly who he was at Borussia Dortmund, and, actually, that’s quite alright with me.

When Arsenal signed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang almost a year ago to the day, they knew what they were getting: a world-class goalscorer with terrifying pace, a prolific scoring record, and a knack for knowing where the goal is if accurate and plentiful service is provided. He is undoubtedly one of the best pure goalscorers of his generation. The stats say so.

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But because his goal record is so sensational, there was a conflation of prolificacy and ruthlessness. You see, while Aubameyang scored a lot of goal for Dortmund, you did not need to watch many of his matches to realise that he is not a clinical finisher.

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The Gabonese international does not maintain such an outrageous goalscoring rate because of his ability to convert chances at an abnormally high rate; he relies instead on the sheer volume of high-quality chances that he is able to create for himself thanks to brilliantly aware and quick movement in and around the penalty area. But because plenty of so-called analysts and journalists write things and draw conclusions without ever watching a player play, when he arrived at Arsenal, there was this strange belief that Aubameyang was a good finisher.

In Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Chelsea, Aubameyang again missed a clear-cut opportunity, firing wide from Alexandre Lacazette’s low cross early on. That miss has led to a discussion over his conversion of ‘big chances’. By statistics company OPTA, a big chance is defined as the following:

"A situation where a player should reasonably be expected to score, usually in a one on one scenario or from very close range when the ball has a clear path to goal and there is low to moderate pressure on the shooter. Penalties are always considered big chances."

This season, Aubameyang has missed 16 big chances. No other player in the Premier League has missed more than 13, the second worst being Callum Wilson of Bournemouth, and only six have made double figures. Conversely, Alexandre Lacazette has missed half the number of big chances that his teammate has. Moreover, not only has Aubameyang missed 16 big chances, but 14 of his attempts from these situations have been off target. He cannot even blame great goalkeeping.

This is all to say that Aubameyang is not the clinical striker that many falsely believed him to be when Arsenal signed him from Dortmund. But that shouldn’t really be a problem. Yes, it is frustrating when he misses extremely presentable opportunities. And yes, it would be nice if he could convert just a few more than he has this season.

But his missing chances does not make him a poor centre-forward. He is still the best goalscorer in the Arsenal squad, the second-highest scorer in the Premier League behind Mohamed Salah, and is equal with the Egyptian if you exclude penalties scored, and one of the best goalscorers in world football over the last decade.

Aubameyang is exactly who he was at Dortmund: a frustrating, sometimes misfiring, terrifyingly fast centre-forward with a prolific goal record. And that, missed chances and all, is quite alright with me.