How Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has replaced Alexis Sanchez as Arsenal’s boom or bust talisman

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The majority of Arsenal fans will have felt a sense of foreboding when the winter transfer window opened for business in January 2018. With performances on the pitch erratic, the ‘Wenger Out’ brigade growing vociferously louder off it and the club’s two best and most high-profile players entering the final six months of their respective contracts, things looked pretty bleak.

By the end of the month, though, the outlook had changed markedly. Although results continued to be patchy and Arsene Wenger’s decorated time at the club neared an underwhelming conclusion, the first-team squad looked to be in far better shape than many Arsenal fans might have expected it to be in on January 1st.

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Arsenal retained the services of one of their star performers, with Mesut Ozil signing a bumper new deal, committing himself to an exciting new era in North London while the other, Alexis Sanchez, was replaced by the talented Henrikh Mkhitaryan after deciding to join Manchester United.

More exciting than Ozil’s new deal and Mkhitaryan’s arrival, though, was the signing of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Borussia Dortmund on deadline day for a club-record £56m fee. In acquiring the free-scoring Gabonese striker, Arsenal immediately replenished their quota of world-class stars back to two following Sanchez’s acrimonious exit. Aubameyang has enjoyed a far more productive 12-months than Sanchez has yet while he is the polar opposite to the Chilean in terms of background, personality, style of play and virtually any other metric, he is similar to the man he replaced in one subtle way: he too has become Arsenal’s all-or-nothing, boom-or-bust talisman.

Hindsight, of course, is a wonderful thing, but even Sanchez himself must wonder ‘what if’ he had opted to join Manchester City instead of their neighbours this time last year. City lead United 3-0 in terms of trophies won since Sanchez’s switch, while in Pep Guardiola he would have been reunited with a coach that has a track record of coaxing out his best form, following the pair’s spell together in Catalunya.

Instead, he ended up with Jose Mourinho. Sanchez’s reaction to Mourinho’s sacking in December offered an insight into his personal relationship with the Portuguese as he filmed his return to Carrington alongside the song ‘Now We Are Free’ from the film Gladiator, mere days after his dismissal. Yet things haven’t changed an awful lot for Sanchez under the new man Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

While Paul Pogba has notably rediscovered his optimal form under the Norwegian, Sanchez is yet to make a mark due to his own lack of fitness and the sparkling form of Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford. Sanchez will be given an opportunity to shine on his old stomping ground when United head to the Emirates for the FA Cup fourth round, however, with Solskjaer confirming his involvement ahead of the game. ‘As a player, pride kicks in and you think ‘I’ll show all of you’,’ he said ahead of Sanchez’s return.

Given how things have gone for Sanchez of late, he has plenty to prove not just to the supporters who used to idolise him but also his current fans who have only had the opportunity to celebrate his goals four times over the past 12-months. That return highlights Sanchez’s struggles since switching clubs, his goals per game rate shrinking alarmingly from just under one every two games at Arsenal to one in eight for United.

It was his reputation as a match-winner that persuaded Ed Woodward to blow City out of the water financially to get him, yet even at Arsenal he had a tendency to flatter to deceive. While a record of 80 goals in 166 games for a player nominally deployed as a wide forward is hardly to be sniffed at, Sanchez did frustrate Arsenal fans at times due to the slackness of his passing as well as his propensity to chastise his teammates if they ceded possession. During his final season at Arsenal, Sanchez recorded a pass success rate of 72.4% in the Premier League – a total only worsened in the squad by strikers Olivier Giroud and Aubameyang himself (both on 69%).

Sadio Mane, who operates in a similar inside forward role at Liverpool, recorded an 80.4% rate, in contrast.

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When Sanchez was scoring and assisting goals, the flaws in his game were accepted, yet if his standards dipped it exposed and highlighted them. Although Sanchez was Arsenal’s prized match-winner, he could also be infuriatingly ineffective. It is a trait he shares with Aubameyang, albeit in different ways. Aubameyang has been an unqualified success since switching North-Rhine Westphalia for North London, only scoring fewer Premier League goals (24) since his debut than the record-breaker himself Mohamed Salah (29).

Mohamed Salah is the only player to outscore Aubameyang in the Premier League since his debut (Getty Images) He is Arsenal’s most clinical finisher since Thierry Henry and should comfortably beat the Frenchman’s record of becoming Arsenal’s fastest player to 25 Premier League goals.

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Should Aubameyang find the net at home to Cardiff next Tuesday, he will have reached that particular landmark in five games fewer than the man who once adorned his no.14 shirt. Aubameyang has been a huge success and considering Harry Kane is sidelined until March with an ankle injury, he looks set to be the biggest competitor to Salah for the Premier League Golden Boot, currently trailing the Egyptian by two goals: 14 to 16.

Despite his impressive finishing statistics in England, though, there is a feeling that Aubameyang could have scored even more. It seems somewhat paradoxical to say of a player who has averaged 21 league goals per season since 2011-12, but Aubameyang’s finishing can be a touch erratic.

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No player in the Premier League this season has wasted as many big chances – defined by Opta as ‘a situation where a player should reasonably be expected to score’ – than Aubameyang who has missed 16. Bournemouth’s Callum Wilson is the next biggest culprit on 13. Since the start of the season, Aubameyang has converted seven of his 23 ‘big chances’ but he has finished off only one of his 13 since the start of December.

That dip in efficiency is concerning in some ways, but far from the end of the world either considering he has still managed a respectable five goals in nine games during that time. Aubameyang’s efficiency in front of goal has dipped recently. He is still outperforming his expected goals (xG) too, with his 14 goals scored slightly better than his xG of 13.76. In comparison, both Manchester City and Liverpool’s leading strikers Sergio Aguero and Roberto Firmino have underperformed compared to their xG.

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When you consider that Ozil is out-of-favour under Emery, Mkhitaryan continues to flatter to deceive and Alexandre Lacazette is usually the first player to be substituted, Aubameyang’s steady supply of goals means he is the one consistently reliable attacker in Arsenal’s ranks, even taking into account his recent drop-off. But Aubameyang’s propensity to veer from difference-maker one week to virtual bystander the next is certainly comparable to Sanchez’s time in North London. With Aubameyang looking to sharpen his goalscoring instincts and Sanchez desperate to regain his form, it will be interesting to see who seizes the opportunity to become the match-winner on Friday night.


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