Mikel Arteta has played down the significance of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s taunts during an advert promoting Chelsea’s Premier League clash with Arsenal on Sunday.
Aubameyang will face Arteta and Arsenal for the first time since he left the Gunners to join Barcelona earlier this year.
Aubameyang’s relationship with Arteta during his final few months at Arsenal deteriorated after he had the captaincy taken away from him following a series of disciplinary breaches.
Arteta gave the green light for Arsenal to cancel Aubameyang’s contract in February, which paved the way for his move to Barcelona on a free transfer.
But the Spanish club were forced to offload Aubameyang in the summer due to their financial troubles and the 33-year-old ended up joining Chelsea in the closing stages of the transfer window.
Ahead of the match at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, Aubameyang has stoked tension with Arsenal’s supporters with his appearance in an advert for BT Sport.
During the advert, Aubameyang says, ‘Arsenal, nothing personal, I’m back, I’m blue, I’m ready’.
When asked about Aubameyang’s statement, Arteta replied: ‘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.’
Asked how dangerous Aubameyang could be against Arsenal, Arteta said: ‘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.’
Aubameyang also angered Arsenal supporters last month after he was caught criticising Arteta’s man-management style.
‘To manage big characters or big players, he [Arteta] can’t deal with it,’ Aubameyang said.
‘He [Arteta] needs some young players, they don’t say anything, they listen.’
When asked how challenging it was to manage Aubameyang towards the end of his time at Arsenal, Arteta said: ‘Nothing, we made decisions, we discussed things and we made a clear decision between all of us.
‘It’s a decision that we had to take and there are different parties involved. 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.’
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