Mikel Arteta has warned his Arsenal side that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is still “very dangerous” in front of goal as they prepare for a reunion at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Aubameyang will be turning out for Chelsea against his old side Arsenal after joining them from Barcelona this summer for around £14million.
Aubameyang’s time at Arsenal ended in acrimonious circumstances as the forward was stripped of the captaincy in December last year and exiled by Arteta.
The Gabon international eventually joined Barcelona on a free transfer on deadline day in January, but Arteta remains wary about Aubameyang’s threat in front of goal.
“Very dangerous,” said Arteta. “If Auba has something, it’s the ability to put the ball in the back of the net and he’s going to be doing that until the day that he decides he’s had enough of football.
“We will have to look first of all at what Chelsea do and try to put a plan together to avoid that.”
Speaking about the call to get rid of Aubameyang and, if both sides have benefited since then, Arteta said: “Well, it’s a decision that we had to take and there are different parties involved.
“At the end of the day, when someone is not with us anymore and being a player and having the role that he had at the club and how important he was, you always wish everybody the best.
“When someone makes that decision to move somewhere else, they need to enjoy their profession and he seems to be happy.”
Arsenal go into Sunday’s game top of the Premier League and a win over Chelsea would move them 13 points clear of the Blues.
“They’ve been really consistent, the results that they’ve had recently since Graham [Potter] took over, you can see what he’s trying to do and we will be ready and will start to prepare for the game from tonight,” said Arteta.
