Arsenal: 4 talking points from crazy 3-3 draw with West Ham

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on the Right Does Not Work

Arteta was asked about his decision to field Aubameyang on the right flank post-match. He didn’t explain precisely why, only that there was a gameplan in place that wasn’t carried out.

"He said: “With the way we wanted to play, it made all the sense for him to play there but we didn’t have the ball. He could not have any influence in the game. I decided to switch them because we were having issues on that side defensive wise.”"

While it’s hard to be too critical of this particular decision given that Arsenal couldn’t complete anything positive before falling two goals down, Aubameyang on the rarely works at the best of times.

He doesn’t have a strong enough left foot, his diagonal movements are too easily picked up and he isn’t a good crosser of the ball either. It’s been dabbled with by previous managers, just never with success.

Bukayo Saka has found his niche on that side, while Nicolas Pepe continues to show his worth on the right. There will be some tactical nuance behind it, but it does feel as though Arteta is tinkering for the sake of it. Generally speaking, the rule of thumb is to play your best players in their best positions. Aubameyang on the right is not an example of that.

The lack of cohesion in the lineup will have had some impact on the abysmal start, and when players moved into their preferred positions Arsenal improved. Drastically. Thus, you have to credit the manager for changing things up. He saw weakness, sought to amend it, and it worked.

Credit where it is due.