Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Talks Arsenal’s ‘Biggest Problem’

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is struggling at Arsenal this season.

Barely involved in matches, touching the ball infrequently and unable to have a meaningful pop at goal – or none at all – the Arsenal captain is in the same boat as the rest of the side.

Mikel Arteta is no fool, he knows the lack of chances created per game falls perilously below what supporters and players alike expect at Arsenal. If you don’t score you can’t win, and if you can’t shoot, you needn’t bother in the first place.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is not infallible. The manager is rightly taking the bulk of the flak for his styles of play and inability to create fluency from the midfield onwards, yet no player – with the exception of Bukayo Saka – can hold their hand up and claim they’ve done enough in an offensive sense.

Seeing Arsenal shift into a familiar 4-2-3-1 formation is an indication of the efforts being made to forge a stronger base for attacking potency. However, it didn’t work against Leeds at Elland Road. More is being done to solve the issue, as explained by Aubameyang when speaking to AfriqueSports.

"“The biggest problem the club is facing right now is the lack of goals, but the manager and the rest of the players are trying to overcome this problem.“Even though the results have not been good recently, we still hope that in the near future everything will be fine and we will surprise the world. We have the players that will take us to the level we want to get to.”“If you see the results that have happened in the Premier League and why teams win or lose games, the margins are minimal.“Teams are winning with one shot on target or with two shots on target. We want to improve that, of course we do. But as well there are many aspects that I am really happy with, enthusiastic and optimistic about.”"

The striker mentions small margins, and while a case can be made for Arsenal being wrongly denied a penalty against Leeds, the Lillywhites hit the woodwork. Thrice.

While he may not have been alluding that that particular instance, or any Arsenal instance at all, the Gunners need much more than ‘minimal margins’ to change in order to solve this ever-growing issue.

Greater ball progression (or any at all), better movement in the forward line and bravery in possession are just a handful of the areas that need ironing out. Blending them all into a neat, fluent package is another issue.

At least neither the players nor management are under any illusions. They shouldn’t be as it’s blatantly obvious, but it is being spoken about and seemingly on track. Of course, we won’t know until Wolves come to the Emirates on Sunday. Will it be light bulb over the head instance or another blown fuse?