Ian Wright has told the Wrighty’s House podcast that he has been surprised that Mikel Arteta has deployed Pierre Emerick Aubameyang as a central striker recently.
Aubameyang has generally played as a left-winger throughout Arteta’s time at Arsenal, but more recently he has been utilised as a central striker.
The switch came after mounting pressure from Arsenal supporters, who felt that Aubameyang was being wasted out wide.
But Wright actually thinks that it is ‘sad’ that Arteta has been forced to make such a change to his style in recent weeks.
And he has called for Aubameyang to be moved back out wide against Tottenham at the weekend, as he could potentially exploit any defensive frailties in Serge Aurier’s game.
“When you look at it from an offensive point of view. Maybe you put Auba back on the left [on Sunday, against Tottenham],” he said.
“I think it’s quite sad. One of the things that has surprised me is that he’s had to bow a little bit to the pressure of putting him in the middle.
“If other people were performing as well as they could do in the middle he wouldn’t have to do that.
“Now with Aurier, you have to say, as much as I like Serge, he has these games were he does silly things and I’m thinking put Auba back on him.”
Aubameyang’s move to a more central position has not helped him break out of his goal drought, as was hoped.
The Gabonese striker still has just two goals to his name this term, and if his form doesn’t improve it is difficult to see Arsenal’s results changing for the better.
Arsenal go into the North London derby sitting in 14th place in the Premier League table, and could fall 11 points behind Spurs already if they lose.
Wrighty’s House is the latest podcast from The Ringer with host Ian Wright with new episodes every Wednesday. The podcast will be available exclusively on Spotify. You can listen here.
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