Arteta applauds 'extraordinary' Aubameyang, backs him to shine vs Spurs

Rested for the Carabao Cup clash, the Gabonese is expected to return to the Gunners starting XI for the north London derby.

Mikel Arteta applauds “extraordinary” Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang while backing him to shine in Arsenal’s Premier League match against Tottenham on Sunday.

Aubameyang was axed from the previous north London derby at the Emirates last season as a punishment for breaching the club’s pre-match protocol.

The Gunners did not miss their captain, who was an unused substitute, as they went on to win the match 2-1.

It’s all water under the bridge, however, now as Arteta is pleased with the striker’s attitude.

“I did that on the day and now I think Auba is in a different position. It doesn’t mean he was in a bad position at the time, it was just an incident that we as a team had some ways of living together – that wasn’t the case (from him at that time) and so we made a decision.

“Now he has been in really good form, I think the way he played at Burnley even though he didn’t score a goal, was extraordinary in the way he played for the team so we are expecting him to keep doing the same,” the Arsenal manager said during his press conference on Friday (via Goal).

“He has generated chances but we have to generate more, we have to put him through on more occasions when we know how it is going to end up and he is in good form.

“You need a special moment and details a lot of the time decide these types of fixtures. Big players do it normally, when they step in and are able to do it for the team normally the outcome becomes really positive.”