Mikel Arteta responds to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang warning ahead of Chelsea clash - ‘You expect players to do that'
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Updated 04/11/2022 at 18:50 GMT
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang stoked the fire ahead of facing former club Arsenal on Sunday. The former Gabon captain appeared in a BT Sport promotional video ahead of the game and said: “Arsenal, nothing personal. I'm back, I'm blue, I'm ready. Let's go.” Mikel Arteta paid little attention to the video, as he looks ahead to this weekend's match at Stamford Bridge.
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Mikel Arteta refused to place too much stock in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s warning to former club Arsenal ahead of their showdown with Chelsea on Sunday.
Aubameyang ramped up the pre-match build before this weekend’s match on Sunday after he appeared in a BT Sport promo saying: “Arsenal, nothing personal. I'm back, I'm blue, I'm ready. Let's go.”
It will be the 33-year-old’s first appearance against the Gunners since leaving the club for Barcelona in January, after being stripped of the club captaincy.
He spent only seven months in Spain, after Barca were forced to cut their wage bill further and offloaded the former Gabon skipper to Chelsea on the final day of the summer transfer window.
Arteta was largely unfazed regarding Aubameyang’s comments - which may well have been pre-scripted anyway - ahead of the showdown in West London.
He told reporters: “You expect players to do that.
“If you ask any of our players how they feel about where they are, they will say the same.”
The Arsenal head coach did not elaborate on the difficulties the club faced in the days leading up to Aubameyang’s departure, as the forward was forced to train on his own as a sanction following several disciplinary issues.
The 33-year-old has a modest return of three goals in 12 appearances across all competitions for the Blues this season, but Arteta is well aware of the threat posed by his former skipper.
“We made decisions. We discussed things and we made a clear decision between all of us," Arteta added.
"You know, if Auba's got something it's the ability to put the ball in the back of the net and he's going to be doing that [until] the day that he decides he's had enough of football."
The Gunners definitely have the upper hand over their London rivals heading into Sunday, and currently sit top of the Premier League with 31 points – 10 clear of Chelsea in sixth.
Arteta’s men recorded a 5-0 hammering of Nottingham Forest last time out and have won 10 of their opening 12 league games.
They also secured top spot in their Europa League group and a straight passage through to the last-16 with a 1-0 win over Zurich on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Chelsea bounced back from a 4-1 humbling by Brighton & Hove Albion by beating Dinamo Zagreb 2-1 in the Champions League on Wednesday.
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