Arsenal: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, I expected more

This season, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored 22 Premier League goals this season. I have to admit, I expected more from the Arsenal striker, though he is not necessarily to blame.

I was very excited when Arsenal signed Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang, a bonafide top scorer in any league. But after a full season in the Premier League under manager Unai Emery, I must say, I expected more, from both him and Arsenal.

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He came arrived in north London with all the cool bells and whistles. Speed to burn, scoring prowess, a proven Bundesliga star, a big smile, flashy hairdo, a boy in a bright white sports car, well gold, but who’s asking really asking?

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But 22 goals in the Premier League? Really? I was sure he’d get 30, maybe more, and join the ranks of former greats Robin van Persie and Thierry Henry. The allure of having one of the top goalscorers in the world playing with one of the top playmakers in the world was making my mouth water last summer. And then, of course, Emery left Mesut Ozil on the bench for most of the season.

Oh yeah, Emery also left Aubameyang on the bench for a large part of the early season as well and the pundits kept referring to Aubameyang as a ‘super sub’. Hard to hit the 30-goal plateau when you’re sitting on the bench with your playmaker watching from the sidelines.

And of course, Arsenal already had a striker, Alexandre Lacazette, playing in the number 9 role, so Aubameyang was forced to play out wide for some of the season where he had to do the hard leg-work of tracking back, which he did admirably. But how do you score goals when you’re deep in your own half? The answer is you don’t. Shouldn’t Arsenal’s top scorer, a pure striker, be playing in the number 9 role? Where the blame lies of Aubameyang falling short of my expectations is not a simple determination.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I thought Aubameyang should step it up a bit down the stretch and bag a couple of braces and a hat-trick or two and lead his team into the Champions League. Well, he left it a bit late but he did come through on the goals front.

The Gunners beat Valencia last week led by the efficient Aubameyang with three beautiful goals, his first hattrick for the club. And Arsenal finally won a Premier League game this weekend as well, beating Burnley 3-1, thanks to Aubameyang who scored a brace for their first win in five outings. Unfortunately, it was too little too late for a top-four finish.

But there is a lot to be proud of if you’re an Arsenal fan. Well, almost. The club is still out of the top four just like last year, and the year prior, but they have advanced to the Europa League final — and they do have a knack of beating Chelsea when it matters, twice in the FA Cup over the last few years and in the Community Shield — and there has been progress in the performance level of the team, despite some disappointments of late.

So optimism reigns supreme, but when the season started, I have to admit I expected a lot more from Aubameyang and from Arsenal.