Goal’s Arsenal correspondent Charles Watts has recently discussed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s impending return from injury.
In the Premier League, the 31-year-old striker was last involved for Mikel Arteta’s side in the middle of this month during the 1-1 draw with Southampton (per Transfermarkt).
Since then, he was not included in the squad against Everton nor brought off the bench during the 3-1 victory over Frank Lampard’s Chelsea.
It has been reported by Football.london that the issue which the Gabon international has been struggling with is a calf injury.
During a recent video shared on Charles Watts’ YouTube channel, the journalist discussed the striker’s impending return to action for the Gunners.
He said: “You’ve obviously got Aubameyang coming back into the mix. [Alexandre] Lacazette started [against Chelsea], Aubameyang was only on the bench because he’d only just come back from his injury.
“He only had a couple of training sessions and in the end, he wasn’t needed, thankfully, because Arsenal were 3-0 up right until the late stages when [Tammy] Abraham scored.
“So, you didn’t need to bring Aubameyang on and that’s good, but you’d expect Aubameyang will come back into that starting XI pretty, pretty soon.
“So, if you’ve got Aubameyang there and then [Bukayo] Saka, [Gabriel] Martinelli and [Emile] Smith Rowe all operating behind, suddenly you’ve got an awful lot of pace in that attack – you’ve got an awful lot of movement as well.
“That’s exciting for an Arsenal fan.”
TIF Thoughts on what Charles Watts said about Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang…
As can be seen in what the journalist had to say, he believes that the forward will be back in Arteta’s starting XI before much longer following his calf injury.
Have you been disappointed in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang this season?
No, he's been good enough
Yes, not been good enough
This will likely come as a relief for Arsenal supporters because the 31-year-old forward has been their second-highest goalscorer in the Premier League this season with three goals (per WhoScored).
However, those goals have come over as many as 13 games, so it seems likely that fans will be hoping he is a little more prolific upon his return to action.
Aubameyang’s 6.62/10 average rating in the league – making him only the joint-ninth-best performer in the squad – shows that the attacker has not been performing at a consistently high standard.