Arsenal: Missing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang mask works in our favor

Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has a special celebration planned for Rennes, which means that he has to score. Funny how that works.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has always been renowned as one of the top strikers in the league, so when Arsenal landed him just a few months after Alexandre Lacazette, no one could quite believe it.

And, if you follow one of the side conversations of the signing, people wanted to know when we could see one of his token mask celebrations. He had his fair share of masks at the ready after any given Dortmund goal. That, and the flips. Quite the spectacle.

Apparently, just over a year into his tenure at the Emirates, Aubameyang was ready to dig into the masks for his celebrations. Aubameyang said he wanted to use it against Manchester United, which would have been all too sweet on that penalty, but he couldn’t find the mask.

Which is a good thing. Because now he says he is going to have to unleash it against Rennes, when the French side comes to the Emirates for the second leg of the Europa League round of 16. But no one is going to be celebrating if he doesn’t score a goal.

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Meaning that (for those of you that haven’t deduced it yet), Aubameyang has to score against Rennes, otherwise he doesn’t get to use his mask.

It does speak to his confidence though. Going into Manchester United, there was a lot of discussion asked about whether his confidence, or lack thereof, would hold him back, since he clearly had issues against Rennes in the first leg following the missed penalty against Tottenham. Even against United, he didn’t look like he had much confidence until Lacazette handed him that penalty.

And yet, if Aubameyang had planned to have a new celebration against United, clearly he wasn’t in a horrible mindset. Maybe his way of inspiring confidence in himself was to look forward to a special celebration.

Now that that celebration never happened, I think it works out in our favor, because he’s going to have to score against Rennes to break it out. Not that Aubameyang doesn’t always want to score, but a little extra prod is sometimes all it takes for elite players like him.

I don’t know what I’m more excited for now, the goal itself (which will be a brace at least, let’s be honest) or the celebration that he’s drumming up.