Arsenal: Rule of thumb—Give Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang what he wants

Arsenal scraped a 1-0 win against Newcastle with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang proving the difference. And now he has an idea that we should honor.

Arsenal’s win against Newcastle was an ugly one, marred by rust and a ton of rain. Despite a haughty first half, the second half deadened, especially after the Gunners were able to pull ahead via a beautiful goal by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, fed by Ainsley Maitland-Niles.

It’s just further proof that Aubameyang is always going to be exactly who he is, and as long as we feed him what he wants, he is going to produce what we need. Which is why, when he speaks up, Unai Emery should be listening.

We saw this last year with Alexandre Lacazette. Aubameyang spoke up about playing alongside Lacazette and lo and behold, it’s become the best striker duo in the whole of Europe. Now, after just a handful of minutes alongside Nicolas Pepe, he’s saying more of the same.

Aubameyang spoke after the match, heaping praise on Pepe and talking about the Frenchman’s abilities, particularly in training, since he hasn’t had much time on the pitch.

The verdict?

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Aubameyang wants Pepe to play more.

Obviously we all understand why Pepe wasn’t in the starting XI against Newcastle, since the African Cup of Nations took all of Pepe’s potential rest time and given how late he arrived at the club, he hasn’t had a lot of time to get settled in.

It was assumed that, in time, Pepe would work his way into the XI anyway, but if Aubameyang already wants to see more of the French winger, then maybe it’s best to just do what we always do—give him what he wants. Because every time we do, we either end up with a significantly improved attack, or we end up with more goals.

The front three that we’ve all been dreaming about is Pepe-Lacazette-Aubameyang, and hearing it straight from Aubameyang’s mouth just feeds into the fervor. He knows what will make an attack better, and it jives with what the fans want as well. So all we have to do now is sit back and patiently wait for Pepe to do exactly what Aubameyang expects him to do.

The only remaining question is how this front three is going to set up with two strikers and one winger. It’s not the most conventional set-up, but Aubameyang will probably have to see himself out to the left wing. And I’m sure he’s okay with that. Because he said he was.