Arsenal vs Villarreal: Aubameyang the difference maker

Arsenal will need their leaders on Thursday night. Arsenal will need their big players. Arsenal will probably need the rub of the green. Arsenal will need their manager to set his team out perfectly. Arsenal will need Villarreal to make mistakes.

Arsenal will need Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

At ‘90%’ fit, the decision on whether to field Aubameyang is a no-brainer. Mikel Arteta must abandon his failed logic from the first leg and not even contemplate another reshuffle. If the hosts are to have their best chance of securing passage into the Europa League final, the captain has to play.

Stats, however, don’t back that up. This season, the Gunners have recorded a better win ratio without Aubameyang (61.1%) in the starting lineup than with him (40%), as noted by Sam Dean. They average 0.8 more goals scored with 0.2 goals against, too.

Arsenal vs Villarreal: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang the difference maker in Europa League

And still you want him in your team.

He will start on Thursday night against his former manager, who labelled him a ‘killer’ in his pre-match press conference. That he is, having come under stinging criticism this season from all corners, much of it unjust while other times warranted. But in the end, for fixtures of this calibre, you need goalscorers on the pitch. He has that instinct.

Those who’ve been there. Those who’ve faced adversity before and stood boldly in its wake. Across the entire Arsenal squad, there are none who will start the match more experienced in that field than Aubameyang.

It’s almost exactly two years to the day since the 31-year-old scored a hat-trick against Valencia at the same stage of the same competition on what he claims to be his ‘best performance’ in red and white. Arsenal’s hero on that day, the opportunity presents itself to do so again and put his side into a major European final for the second time in three years.

Nervous and blunt on home soil,even under those circumstances Arsenal will carve open opportunities to score. When they do, there is one man you want them to fall to. Being that figure in a squad is a responsibility he knows full well.

A wretched season in more ways than one, for both the club and Aubameyang, Villarreal pose the chance to distance all involved from a campaign to forget. Reach the final and who knows what could happen.