Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is relishing the opportunity to derail Arsenal’s title charge as he prepares to face his old club for the first time as a Chelsea player.
The Gabon international enjoyed one of the most prolific spells of his career under Mikel Arteta and his four goals in the latter stages of the FA Cup against Manchester City and his current club were responsible for for the Gunners last trophy success.
After signing a new long-term contract after those Wembley heroics, Aubameyang’s performances deteriorated, as did his relationship with Arteta.
Their toxic fallout culminated in Aubameyang being frozen out and his contract terminated, before he was able to sign on a free for Barcelona in January’
After a goal-laden six-month spell in Spain, the former Borussia Dortmund star found himself a victim of the Catalan giants’ perilous financial plight and was sold to Chelsea on deadline day.
Aubameyang stokes the fires ahead of Sunday’s reunion in a promotional advert for BT Sport earlier this week claiming to be ‘a Blue now’ but he insists he’s looking forward to having ‘fun’ when he comes up against the manager who effectively ended his Arsenal career.
He said: ‘Yes, definitely a very exciting game and also because they are doing well at the moment. Yeah, before I was on the other side.
‘And of course I have some memories of a few games I played against Chelsea now it’s going to be so much different.
‘But hopefully we can win this game and we play at home so I think it’s going to be really exciting and yeah, I’m looking forward to it.
‘It’s a big week coming and we will try to give everything to make the most of it. The first game is at home against Arsenal I think it’s going to be fun for sure.’
Aubameyang’s transgressions under Arteta saw him stripped of the captaincy 12 months ago but he insists he is still the type of player who Chelsea’s youngsters can learn from.
He said: ‘I try to always give advice you know. I’m not a guy who will speak when cameras are there but I do my job secretly.
‘The best thing you can do when you are an experienced player is make the young players fully comfortable in the dressing room and I try to be as cool as possible and I had a warm welcome so I’m doing well at the moment.’
One of those youngster, Armando Brojo, has finally broken into the first team this season after spending last term at Southampton and Aubameyang is confident the striker has everything required to succeed at the top level.
He added: ‘We talked quite a few times already tried to give him some tips but I always say to him when we work in front of the goal for example remember this is the only chance you will have in the game and try to be in that mindset.
‘I think this can help him otherwise I don’t think he need so much because he has so much pace, he is strong and it’s all about the finishing and always being positive.’
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