Mikel Arteta had no choice but to drop Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – and history suggests Arsenal captain should fall into line
In dropping his captain, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, for the north London derby because he arrived late, Mikel Arteta took a huge risk.
Lose to bitter rivals Tottenham, and the decision would look like hubristic self-sabotage. Win – as Arsenal ultimately did – and it is brave, principled leadership.
Bold though it certainly was, in many ways Arteta had no choice.
The Spaniard’s 15 months in charge have been all about behavioural discipline.
He arrived speaking about “non-negotiables” and has lived by that mantra, ensuring his new charges knew they couldn’t get around this very new manager.
The Arsenal team he inherited was long overdue a shake-up: in his last game as interim manager before handing over the reins, Freddie Ljungberg underperforming axed senior players in favour of a youthful XI.
Arteta took the hint. And for a team flushed with young talent, setting clear boundaries has been important.
Maybe at times Arteta has been guilty of being too dogmatic. Earlier this season, Arsenal looked like a team afraid to improvise and the goals dried up.
But on the whole, Pep Guardiola’s former assistant has been vindicated.
He led them to the FA Cup in his first half season. And while Arsenal still make plenty of mistakes, they are rooted in technique and football decision-making rather than bad attitude.
The trio that make this team tick are the tireless and unselfish Kieran Tierney, Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith-Rowe.
Players speak of a togetherness in the dressing room and regular watchers can see the direction of travel is positive.
Aubameyang at a crossroads
Arteta’s conviction and discipline have been a breath of fresh air after the Unai Emery era.
Emery gave the impression of someone chronically indecisive, from his inability to instil a clear playing style, his insistence that Arsenal be tactical “chameleons”, putting the captaincy to a player vote and his flip-flopping on Mesut Ozil.
While Emery finished fifth and reached the Europa League final, there was a sense his team was running on fumes. And they soon evaporated.
Arteta’s gamble on dropping Aubameyang could yet come back to bite him.
Arsenal’s only realistic hope of Champions League qualification lies in the Europa League, where they face a nervy second leg fixture this midweek.
When Olympiacos visit on Thursday, the hosts could really use their only reliable source of goals and highest-paid player, whose late header sent them through in the previous round.
It is a crossroads moment for Aubameyang, too.
Although accusations of unprofessionalism peppered his free-scoring years at Borussia Dortmund, at Arsenal he has appeared to be a model pro and team-mate, an ebullient, wholly positive influence on the dressing room and indispensable on the field. Well, mostly.
His lateness for the Tottenham game, however, is said to be not his first offence. He left swiftly after full-time and must now decide whether to swallow it or sulk.
Aubameyang will need no reminding that Arteta has taken a hard line with those who he feels he cannot rely on.
Mesut Ozil and Matteo Guendouzi, most notably, were shipped out and have hardly proved Arteta wrong. So too Sead Kolasinac and Shkodran Mustafi.
Arteta sticks to a hard line. History suggests it is better to be on his side of it.