Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was on the scoresheet again on Thursday night as he scored the decisive goal to help Barcelona secure a slender 1-0 win away to Real Sociedad.
The victory lifted the Catalans to second in the table, on 63 points but still 15 behind runaway leaders Real Madrid.
That strike was the ex-Arsenal forward’s ninth goal in just 11 La Liga appearances, making him Barcelona’s second-highest league scorer behind only Memphis Depay.
Aubameyang made his last Arsenal appearance in December and was allowed to join Barcelona in February following a disciplinary breach. Many Arsenal fans sided with Mikel Arteta on his decision to let the 32-year-old leave at the time, however, there’s now doubt creeping in about whether that was the right call, particularly due to the Gunners’ recent issues in front of goal.
Before Wednesday night’s impressive 4-2 win at Chelsea, Arsenal had gone three consecutive league games without scoring a single goal. And ahead of that clash, Arteta admitted he wished he had strikers within his squad who could deliver goals on a more regular basis.
“This is what we have! This is our reality! I wish I had 40 goals in the team. (If) I have three players in the squad in the next seven games that are going to score 21 goals…I’d go to sleep very nice and say ‘tomorrow is going to be great’.”
But while Arsenal’s issues in front of goal have been attributed to missing a ruthless goalscorer, that’s actually just one part of the problem. There are also wider issues around the team’s creativity that need to be addressed and improved by Arteta. And Aubameyang’s goalscoring exploits in Spain capture this point.
Barcelona under Xavi have steadily improved and developed across the course of this campaign and are now much more recognisable in terms of style and philosophy. And a trait of Xavi’s side, like many great Barcelona teams in the past, is creating high-quality chances on a regular basis, something that directly benefits their forwards, like Aubameyang.
The Gabon international is being presented with noticeably more shots on average at Barcelona (3.3 per 90) than he was at Arsenal (2.9 per 90), and those shots tend to be from a much closer distance to goal for the Catalans (10.6 yd) than they were for Arteta’s men too (14.2 yd).
Given that Aubameyang is taking more shots per game, and from a closer distance, it’s easy to see how has been able to pad out his scoring returns since his switch.
Aubameyang's behaviour meant Arteta was in a position where he clearly felt he could no longer keep the forward at the club.
And while it’s tempting to think about what could have been had he stayed, the reality is he probably wouldn’t have been as efficient as he has been for Barcelona, meaning there should be no regrets. Instead, Arteta must continue to find more long-term solutions to Arsenal’s goalscoring issues.
