P ierre Emerick Aubameyang once again proved why he’s the most lethal striker in England with another superb individual performance to help Arsenal come from behind to beat Leicester at the Emirates.
Leicester started strong in the first half and deserved more than one goal, but Arsenals goalkeeper Bernd Leno stood tall denying them on several occasions.
Leicester soon took a well-deserved lead in the 31st minute when Hector Bellerin turned Ben Chilwell’s cross into his net. He soon made up for his error by setting up Mesut Ozil with a low cross from which he beat the keeper with a classy ‘classic Mesuit’ sidefooted finish to equalize just at the stroke of half time.
Leicester continued to dominate the momentum at the start of the second half which prompted Unai Emery to bring in reinforcements.
He brought in Aubameyang and Guendouzi pushing Xhaka to the left back to cover for struggling Lichtsteiner. The changes were ingenious, and with more players forward, Ozil and Aubameyang took charge of the show.
He found Bellerin with a wonderfully-weighted pass that bisected Chilwell and Jonny Evans. Bellerin made a low cross to find super sub-Aubameyang who tucked it in with his first touch.
The striker’s second, which killed the contest, was even better. It was truly a thing of beauty – a lovely trend that Arsenal is beginning to follow after Aaron Ramsey’s strike against Fulham. In all, from the keeper Leno, 10 Arsenal players touched the ball – with 16 touches between them.
The brace means Aubameyang has been involved in 21 goals in his last 22 premier league games (16 goals, five assists). Only Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah has registered a better goal-assist ratio.
Leicester’s poor streak against Arsenal continues. They are winless in their last 26 visits to Arsenal since winning 2-0 in 1973. (P-26, W-0, L-20, D-6)
For the lovers of statistics, Aubameyang has now scored six goals in nine games this season. At some point in the game, the Gabonese striker had scored four goals in only 35 minutes of play.
He’s proved to be a massive upgrade to former Arsenal playmaker Alexis Sanchez who swapped Arsenal for rivals Manchester United in January. Aubameyang has registered an incredible tally of 16 goals and six assists, while Sanchez has only three goals and four assists for Manchester United during the same time.
What’s Next?
Arsenal travel for a tricky away fixture against Sporting CP in the Europa League before taking on Crystal Palace three days later.
With Peter Czech, Laurent Koscielny and Nacho Monreal back to full fitness, Unai Emery will consider shuffling the team on Thursday to give them much needed rest.
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