Paul Merson told Soccer Special on Sky Sports on Tuesday night that he couldn’t understand why Mikel Arteta was playing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang out on the left during Arsenal’s defeat to Wolves.
After missing a number of matches for personal issues, Aubameyang was back in Arsenal’s squad, but it wasn’t the return he would have liked.
Arteta opted to bring on the Gabon speedster after the hour mark for Nicolas Pepe, with the away side losing 2-1, and at the time, down to ten men.
In the Sky studios, Merson was left baffled as to why Aubameyang was playing out on the left, rather than playing down the middle, as he shared what the issue was with that.
“It worries me, Aubameyang has come on for Pepe,” said Merson. “But Aubameyang has gone and played on the left.
“I don’t know why they just go and put him upfront? They are 2-1 down, put a bit of pace upfront and just hope they counter-attack.
“He ends up doubling and helping the fullback, with Traore. There’s no point in him coming on.”
It was a devastating defeat for Arsenal and one of the hardest to take from the season given how it all came about.
But there were many positives, from how the team performed in the first half, to the performances of Bukayo Saka, Pepe and Emile Smith-Rowe.
Plus, the return of their £56 million goalscoring machine (BBC Sport), who will be hoping he can get back to his best during the second half of this campaign.
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