Unai Emery has challenged in-form Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to win the Premier League’s Golden Boot this season. Aubameyang is the league’s top scorer with 10 goals after scoring twice and setting up another in Arsenal’s 4-2 win over Tottenham on Sunday.
Emery hopes the Gabon international – who has scored eight in his last seven league games – can continue his hot streak when Arsenal take on Manchester United at Old Trafford on Wednesday. “I want him to continue improving, and his challenge is also collective and individual,” he said. “I want his challenge to be that he has the opportunity to be the best scorer in the Premier League. We want to help him achieve this and that is because, if he is scoring, he is helping us.”
Emery has used Aubameyang in a variety of roles this season as he has also sought to accommodate players like Alexandre Lacazette, Mesut Ozil, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Alex Iwobi. But he led the line for Arsenal in the north London derby and Emery was delighted with his performance.
“In his career he has played as a winger on the right, on the left and like a striker,” Emery said. “He [has] played with two strikers. I use with him in every position for us. And sometimes his best performance is starting the match on the bench and then playing 20 or 25 minutes. In the last two matches he has had a very big performance, working and scoring.
“I want to say to him and also to everyone: ‘don’t stop, continue with this commitment every match.’ “It is also important that he takes confidence from matches like [Tottenham], not only from scoring but also from helping with pressing against them and [competing] well with the head against them. Now is the moment to say to him: ‘Don’t stop’.”