"[A]bout the position and his movement, of course we can talk about is this the right or wrong place for him, but when things were working and he was scoring that debate wasn't there," Mikel Arteta replied after the Villa defeat when asked whether he considers playing Aubameyang centrally as cited by the club's official website.
This does not really sound like a good explanation of why it's better for Pierre to be stationed on the left instead of being used as a No.9.
And in fact, last season many Arsenal fans urged the boss to drop Lacazette in order to allow Auba to play in his favourite centre-forward role.
So we've come up with two relatively simple reasons why the captain should be moved centrally.
Reason 1: Auba is more effective as a No.9
The first one is based on Pierre's scoring record over his 12-year career as a professional footballer so far.
He has scored 177 goals in 275 games in which he started as a centre-forward. That's 0.64 goals per game. Additionally, he has provided 53 assists in these games (0.19 per game).
Compare that with 34 goals in 64 games Auba played on the left. This equals to 0.53 goals per game. He has contributed only 7 assists from the left-forward role (0.1 per game).
These numbers show Aubameyang is simply more effective when played centrally. You can put him on the left, you can use him on the right—he will play there and will try his best, but his numbers go up when he plays as a No. 9.
Reason 2: Auba's positioning creates chances for others
This is about an eyeball test, not hard science as above. This season, Auba has played only 30 minutes as a striker in the Premier League. This happened in the second half against Sheffield. Do you remember this game?
The first half was one of the most boring performances by Arsenal in years. The players failed to create anything. "Overall, we miss the spark, the flamboyance, the guile," I wrote in the half-time explainer as the score was 0-0.
Then, near the hour mark, Nico Pepe replaced the underwhelming Eddie Nketiah and changed the game.
Yet, as I argued after the game, it was not Pepe who turned the tide of the game and brought three points home. It was Mikel Arteta's decision to play Auba centrally. Simply because Pierre provides scoring opportunities for others through his intelligent positioning and effective link-up play.
In the first build-up leading to the first goal, Aubameyang receives a pass from Elneny...
... and plays a brilliant one-touch through ball to Hector after seeing the right-back running in behind.
A pre-assist in a prime Ozil fashion.
And you can think the second goal was a brilliant solo effort by Nico Pepe (and it was), but it was made possible by Pierre-Emerick's smart movement.
Auba kept several Sheffield defenders occupied, leaving space open for the Ivorian to run into. No.6 (Basham) holds onto the Arsenal captain, while No.12 (Egan) is stuck in-between challenging Pepe and marking Auba, which gives a few valuable seconds to Pepe to prepare a shot.
When Egan finally decides to leave Auba and tackle Pepe, Nico has already started planning his celebration.
You can watch the highlights of these two goals below (0:20 for Saka's goal; 0:46 for Pepe's):
This kind of offensive build-up is what Arsenal badly missed against Aston Villa and Leicester this season.
Neither Lacazette in his current state nor the inexperienced Nketiah offer what our best player can when used in his natural position.
