Arsenal Vs Burnley: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s triumphant return?

Arsenal welcome Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang back to the team when they travel to Burnley on Sunday afternoon. Will it be a triumphant one for the team’s top goalscorer?

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been Arsenal’s best player this season. Admittedly, bar Bernd Leno, that is not saying much whatsoever. The overall individual quality of the team’s performance has been rather poor, especially under Unai Emery earlier in the campaign.

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Nevertheless, even during the difficult Emery years in which chances were few and far between and attacking players in the team had to create moments on their own and score goals on the margins of the match, Aubameyang was still able to produce prolifically.

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The striker has 14 goals in 22 Premier League games this season. Only Sergio Aguero and Jamie Vardy have scored more on the season. It is a remarkable record for a player who has largely played on the wing or in a team that is creating a limited number of chances to score.

But as Arsenal have improved in recent weeks under the tutelage of new head coach Mikel Arteta, Aubameyang has had to sit on the sidelines and watch Gabriel Martinelli gobble up the opportunities that he should be scoring from the inside-left role in the front three that Arteta has crafted for him.

Martinelli scored twice in the three matches that Aubameyang missed due to suspension after his red card against Crystal Palace. But now Aubameyang is again available for selection and is expected to sweep straight back into the starting XI when the Gunners travel to face Burnley on Sunday afternoon.

And Arteta, speaking in his pre-match press conference on Friday, is happy to have him back:

"“Yeah we missed them [the suspended Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and David Luiz]. It’s good to have top players back in the squad. They’ve been training well so we have more bodies available.”"

Aubameyang will likely return to the inside-left-wing role that he flourished in prior to his suspension. He scored from that position in the Palace draw, drifting inside and latching onto Alexandre Lacazette’s through pass before sliding a lovely finish into the bottom corner. It is a role that suits him well and allows Arteta to start both Aubameyang and Lacazette without committing to a 4-4-2-based shape.

And Aubameyang returning against Burnley on Sunday might just be a triumphant one for the centre-forward. He has played Burnley on four occasions. He has scored in every one of those four matches, including notching a brace in three of them. Seven goals in four. It is nothing to scoffed at.

Arsenal have missed the clinical, direct, goal-obsessed impact of Aubameyang. He is unlike any other player in the squad and his return this weekend is most welcome.