Mikel Arteta has warned his players that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could be "very dangerous" in Sunday afternoon's fixture.
Arteta's Arsenal travel to Stamford Bridge to face Aubameyang's Chelsea for the first time since he was released by the Gunners in February. The 33-year-old was stripped of the captaincy by Arteta in December for disciplinary issues before he was given the boot.
Arsenal fans will be concerned that Aubameyang has a point to prove on Sunday afternoon. "Arsenal, it's nothing personal... I'm back, I'm Blue, I'm ready - let's go," warned the Gabon international in a controversial TV advert for the Premier League fixture.
Arteta was unsurprisingly asked about Aubameyang's departure and comments after Arsenal's 1-0 win against Europa League rivals FC Zurich on Thursday night. "Well, it’s a decision that we had to take and there are different parties involved," said the Spaniard.
"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.
Arteta's decision to release Aubameyang was controversial, as many fans still viewed him as one of the best strikers in the Premier League. He hit 92 goals in 163 appearances for the Gunners during a four-year spell - a good return by most players' standards.
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Aubameyang has continued to score goals since leaving the Emirates. He joined Barcelona on his release and hit 11 goals in 17 LaLiga outings before Chelsea came calling in the summer. The move came as a bit of a surprise for Arsenal supporters.
Aubameyang has made a decent start to life at Chelsea, scoring three goals in 11 outings. On the forward's recent comments, Arteta said: "You expect players to do that. If you ask any of our players how they feel about where they are, they will say the same."
He added: "[Aubameyang is] very dangerous. 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."
Arteta was also asked if it was challenging to manage Aubameyang's behaviour. He replied: "Nothing, we made decisions, we discussed things and we made a clear decision between all of us."
Although Chelsea are now under the management of Graham Potter, Aubameyang was brought back to London by his predecessor Thomas Tuchel. The German coached the forward at Borussia Dortmund and insisted he didn't have any major behavioural issues.
"There was never a big issue," said Tuchel in September. "He [Aubameyang] has a big problem with his time but he never misses a meeting. Sometimes getting him 60 minutes before training is an issue! It is sometimes 58 minutes, or 59."
