Revealed: What Arteta said on why he continues to play Aubameyang as a winger

Arsenal appointed Mikel Arteta as their new head coach in December last year and he has so far done well but he has however surprised the fans by his persistence to be playing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as a winger despite him being better in the centre forward role.

Aubameyang has played as a winger in all matches that he has started under Mikel Arteta and he has been scoring goals but the fans are still convinced he would be better off as a striker since he sometimes obviously struggles due to being on the flank as he is forced to be crossing balls into the box when he should get the one inside waiting for the balls.

The UEFA Europa League exit to Olympiacos raised some criticism for Mikel Arteta for why Aubameyang had to play on the left wing and struggled to have many goal scoring chances since he was the one trying to create them by crossing the ball into the penalty box for Lacazette who was the one playing as a striker that day. Why does Aubameyang continue playing as a left winger even though he is a striker is a question that is still being asked even though football is paused for a while but Arteta did give a sold reason as to why he was doing this and even revealed as to why Martinelli wasn’t also playing that much.

LONDON, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 23: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang celebrates scoring Arsenal’s 3rd goal during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Everton FC at Emirates Stadium on February 23, 2020 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

“They are [central strikers]” said Arteta on Aubameyang and Martinelli.

“But with the squad balance we have at the moment, to play on that position on the left we don’t have five players because we’re using one of them to play as a left-back who is not a left-back.” the Arsenal boss told Daily Star.

And so it’s all about the squad balance and this is something that is important to Mikel Arteta because this isn’t the first time that he is talking about it. So according to this explanation by Arteta, the gunners could start playing Aubameyang as a central striker when all their left backs are fully fit to play since Saka was in the recent games before the spread of the Coronavirus playing in the fullback position since Tierney & Kolasinac were on the sidelines.