Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang linked up with his new Arsenal team-mates on the training ground for the first time on Friday, ahead of the Gunners’ weekend clash with Everton.
The Gabon international, who Arsenal signed for £56million on deadline day, trained by himself at London Colney on Thursday, in a bid to get match fit for Saturday’s fixture.
Aubameyang could make his debut for the north London club against the Toffees, and link up with his former Dortmund team-mate Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
Ahead of the match, here are five questions that need to be answered.
We’ll start with the elephant in the room; will Arsenal’s new £56million signing make his debut at the Emirates, and perhaps more importantly, will he hit the ground running?
The fact the Gabon striker hit the training ground all by himself on Thursday, before doing it all again with his team-mates on Friday, suggests he will definitely be playing for the Gunners on Saturday.
But Wenger threw this into doubt in his press conference, when he announced that the player has been suffering with illness.
“Certainly Mkhitaryan will start,” said Wenger on Friday. “That’s a possibility, yes. Aubameyang, I have to assess how he is physically today and how well he feels.
“He had sickness, a fever. He couldn’t train a lot, he started yesterday. He was still not completely well so I have to assess and see with the medical department how well and how fit he can be.”
Whether he will start – or come off the bench – on Saturday remains a mystery, but it seems that regardless of what fate has in store for the 28-year-old, he is desperate to play.
Another big question that Arsenal will be hoping is the case; will Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang get on like they did all those years ago at Dortmund?
Things have changed since then, of course, but there is no denying that the duo struck up a partnership in Germany, that worked to the Bundesliga giants’ favour on more than one occasion.
When asked the killer question on Friday, Wenger said: “I hope so, yes. They know each other well. We are an offensive team, hopefully they can recreate that understanding.”
Back in the 2015-2016 season Aubameyang found the back of the net 39 times while Mkhitaryan, who usually played a little deeper, scored 23.
If the duo can get anywhere near these figures at Arsenal then Gunners fans are in for a few treats from here until the end of the season.
One potential issue is that both players – who you’d think will be regulars in the first team – are attack-minded, which could leave Arsenal short at the back.
Speaking about this on Sky Sports, Gary Neville said: “Those four are so attacking I can’t think of a defensive mind among them. I watched Mkhitaryan at United, he doesn’t defend.
“Ozil, when he wants to he can, but he doesn’t really want to put it in defensively. They’re going to leave huge spaces.
“The situation poses Wenger a problem he will have to try and resolve on the training pitch. That is the problem – how do you fit all four in the same team?
“I’m not quite sure that will happen. It doesn’t look like a natural fit, so Arsene Wenger has got some big challenges on the training field to make those four into a unit that works.”
The France international promised the world when Arsenal spent £52million on him in the summer, making him the most expensive purchase in their history.
But just a few months later and Wenger – who of course was forced to react to losing Alexis Sanchez – delved into the transfer market once again and spent even more on Aubameyang.
The two players are similar in that they’re out-and-out forwards with plenty of pace and – when in form – have the ability to score goals for fun.
So you’d think Wenger will be looking to play one over the other, which doesn’t look good for the 26-year-old former Lyon forward.
What’s more Wenger refused to give the Frenchman any clarity over his future at the club in his Friday press conference, telling the media: “I don’t reassure people. We are in a competitive world.
“We have also chosen a job where there is competition, you have to fight for your place.”
For so long Mesut Ozil’s future has been up in the air; will he sign a new contract at Arsenal, will he return to Spain, will he join Manchester United?
The German put all the speculation, rumour, and nonsense to bed this week when he penned a new £350,000-a-week contract at the Emirates – much to the delight of Gunners supporters.
The deal will see him remain an Arsenal player until 2021, and means that the Gunners will enjoy the playmaker in his prime years.
So what now? Well, the German has previously been accused of ‘being lazy’ or ‘going missing’ in big games, which was used as apparent evidence that his mind was elsewhere and that he was going to leave.
This notion can no longer be thrown about, meaning fans will expect better and more consistent performances from the German.
Not only this but because he’s now being paid £350,000-a-week – making him the highest paid player at the club by some margin – the board will expect the same.
Wenger confirmed the pressure to perform is now definitely on Ozil’s shoulder on Friday, saying: “Many predicted he wouldn’t commit and not sign.
“It is good news for us – if you can keep a player of that calibre is of course good news.
“He has committed his future to the club at a period where we are in a tricky period. [Now] we expect him to take responsibility to lead the club to success.”
The goalkeeper, who hasn’t been in the best of form for a while now, had a game to forget in Arsenal’s embarrassing 3-1 defeat to Swansea City last time out.
Against the Swans, Nacho Monreal threw the ball back to Shkodran Mustafi, who laid it back to a hurried Cech in the Arsenal goal.
The shot-stopper could only scuff his clearance though, and a grateful Jordan Ayew prodded the loose ball into the net.
To make matters worse, Arsenal have since been linked with a move for Atletico Madrid keeper Jan Oblak.
The Slovenian is widely regarded to be one of the best shot-stoppers in the world, and would command a hefty transfer fee.
But the Gunners have proved this January that they’re now willing to spend cash on transfer fees and pay large wages.
Cech needs to bounce back against Everton for the sake of his future at the club, or he might just find himself on the scrapheap come June.
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