When Arsenal won the penalty at the very end of the first-half in their fixture against Aston Villa, I was expecting Alexandre Lacazette to take it given his 100% penalty record in his Arsenal career. But up stepped Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to take the penalty against one of the most in-form keepers in the Premier League, and something about it felt right to me. Looking back at the season we have had so far, if I could pick one player who deserved to take the penalty to put Arsenal 2-0 ahead in an important juncture of the season, I would have chosen Aubameyang without a shadow of a doubt.
The Arsenal skipper has led the side in a way no one expected of him at the end of last season when rumors were hovering around the Emirates about Arsenal inquiring for a potential exit route for the Gabon international.
Aubameyang has shown exemplary leadership both, he has never been the most vocal or expressive character but this season he has expressed through his performances, his effort, his drive to make this side click.
It was promised to be a season of progression for Arsenal and while that has been an on-off story for the Gunners, their skipper seemed to have made a step forward since the last season in almost all regards.
His link-up play has been commendable this season though the underlying numbers haven’t changed a lot since last season. For the last season, he has been averaging 0.1 xA per 90 which has increased to 0.12 xA per 90 this season, however, there isn’t a drastic improvement as the general opinion may suggest but he actually always has been this good.
Though, playing in his right position has allowed him to showcase his abilities more often in contrast to last season which has made his link-up more obvious to the on-lookers. Because he has been playing up top, he has completed fewer passes into the final third (0.44 per 90) but more passes into the penalty area (1.47 per 90) in comparison to last season ((0.84 per 90 and 0.93 per 90), meaning more final action involvement.
As shown in the visualization above, he’s received more passes and taken more touches in the central areas in and around zone 14.
What he does have drastically improved upon is his finishing, he was overperforming or in this case underperforming on his xG by 94% for the 2020/21 Premier League season, while this season he has been overperforming by 204% on his xG in the league. As could be seen in the visualization below, (small sample size alert) he has scored most of the big chances that have fallen to him this season.
It seems a fit and sharp Aubameyang is still a world-class finisher — who would have thought that?
Though not just with his finishing, Aubameyang has done a great job with his hold-up play for a player of his physique. For strikers like Romelu Lukaku and Alexandre Lacazette, it is easier to hold up the ball as in the former’s case his upper body strength helps him out with keeper defenders at bay and for the latter being shorter means he has a lower center of gravity allowing him more balance to hold up his stance even when put under pressure.
With Aubameyang, his lean and tall physique means he neither has a great upper body strength to hold off defenders nor does his high center of gravity allow him to remain on his feet when he’s holding off centre-backs.
That will explain why he’s usually falling so often when he’s holding-up, though that does allow him to use his biggest weapon — his long reach to distance himself from the defender. End of the day, holding-up the ball is all about distancing the ball from the defender until support arrives and it may be an unconventional way to do so, but Aubameyang is able to do it to a great effect.
His off-the-ball movement has been top-notch once again he’s facilitating Arsenal’s attack, by generating space for Arsenal’s creative players to operate and consistently keep the opposition backline on their toes.
Another aspect of his game that goes unnoticed is his arrival in the penalty box, he rarely gets it wrong, either he creates space for himself or for others just by drawing defenders away from other players arriving in the box. The video below is an example of that.
There was a belief last season that Aubmeyang wasn’t contributing anything else except for his goals and while that wasn’t always true but to a certain extent, it was. That’s been another area of improvement with him this season. Looking at his stats, Aubameynag is attempting more pressures per 90 (17.6) with a better success rate (25%) than he was last season (13.6, 24.1%). He is even attempting more tackles (1.18 per 90) and making more blocks (1.47 per 90) than last season (0.58 per 90, 1.03 per 90).
Not sure if he’ll go down as an Arsenal legend but if Aubameyang can steer through Arsenal during their darkest period alongside a young manager leading the way he has, he sure will be remembered fondly when it all ends for him at Arsenal. But until then, I’m sure we will be witnessing more of vintage Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and given how he keeps finding more dimensions to his game, maybe some more.