The 33-year-old made a bright start to his Chelsea career but has now gone 10 games without a goal and looks a shadow of the player who tore up the Premier League at his peak with Arsenal.
Aubameyang began last night’s game on the bench but was introduced after just five minutes following an injury to Raheem Sterling.
The game largely passed the ex-Gunners captain by, however, and he was replaced midway through the second period by teenager Omari Hutchinson who was making his senior debut following his summer transfer from Arsenal.
An injection of youth almost helped earn Chelsea an unlikely point with fellow substitutes Connor Gallagher and Lewis Hall forcing City to cling to the advantage they gained through Riyad Mahrez’s predatory 63rd minute goal.
The performances of that young trio only served to highlight Aubameyang’s lack of effort, according to Sutton, who took issue with the Gabon international’s body language as much as his overall performance.
He told the BBC: ‘Aubameyang looked like he didn’t want to be here this evening. He’s not the only one. Cucurella, they’ve spent an absolute fortune on him and he looks well, well short for a Chelsea team that want to win trophies.
‘I wonder whether Graham Potter is thinking, how can I play Aubameyang again in a Chelsea jersey after how woeful he was.
‘I’m always wary to criticise players for lack of effort or poor body language but Aubameyang absolutely epitomised that – I thought he was woeful and hopeless and didn’t give anywhere near enough.
‘He looked disinterested and I suspect Graham Potter will be thinking, blimey, he is never going to play in a Chelsea jersey again under me.’
Potter later defended his No.9 in his post match press conference and claimed his lack of minutes recently contributed to his decision to substitute the substitute.
He said: ‘He came on after one minute, hadn’t played for a while, and put in an absolute shift for us given Manchester City make you run a lot. I thought he did everything he could for the team.
‘He was fatiguing a little bit, same as Hakim [Ziyech], so that was the decision. We needed a little bit of energy so I thought we could use Omari [Hutchinson], Conor [Gallagher], and Lewis [Hall]. Of course, players want to stay on the pitch and influence the game. It’s a normal reaction.’
MORE : Graham Potter explains why he hauled off substitute Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang against Man City
MORE : Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink says ‘weakest link’ Marc Cucrella is a problem for Chelsea
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