Six months after his last league start for Chelsea against his former side ended in ignominy, history repeated itself for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on Tuesday night.
Aubameyang spent four years at Arsenal after being signed by Arsene Wenger and quickly established himself as one of the club's most influential players. However, Aubameyang's stay in north London turned sour under Mikel Arteta, who offloaded the Gabon international following a string of disciplinary issues.
Since returning to the Premier League, the 33-year-old has been a peripheral figure in a Chelsea side that have lurched from one crisis to the next and are currently languishing in the bottom half of the table - and just to rub salt in Aubameyang's wounds, Arsenal have flourished without him.
Aubameyang has been out in the cold since he was hooked at half-time during Chelsea's 1-0 loss against Arsenal back in November, but he was recalled to the starting line-up by caretaker boss Frank Lampard for the trip to the Emirates in midweek.
And the emotion of the occasion appeared to get to Aubameyang before the match had even kicked off. On a clip shared on social media, a hint of sadness can be seen in the striker's face as the Emirates sang their 'North London Forever' pre-match anthem.
Unfortunately for Aubameyang, the match once again passed him by; he could only watch as the Gunners blitzed Chelsea with three first-half goals and was promptly taken off at half-time AGAIN after touching the ball just nine times - much to the delight of the home fans, who cheered loudly as the substitution was confirmed over the tannoy.
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Despite making the call to withdraw Aubameyang, Lampard refused to single him out for criticism after the match and instead insisted that everybody in the team had to shoulder their portion of the blame for such a poor performance.
"I'm not going to comment on individuals in the game," Lampard told Sky Sports when he was quizzed about Aubameyang's performance. "I'll talk about a collective and it's the performance.
"I understand what you said that Chelsea fans will talk about the players not caring. I don't believe that. They're lads that want to do well for this club. But they have to understand what that means and what that entails every day, from training every day for a game, how you prepare, how you maintain yourself.
"Those standards are clear. It's a collective. If I'm going to talk about an individual, I'll maybe talk about Noni who scores the goal and who came in and played like he's been training. That's a good example. He'll get more opportunities."
