The Gunners offered very little in reply with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang failing to register a single shot on target. The forward has scored just two Premier League goals this season and not from open play since against Fulham on the opening weekend.
Indeed, Aubameyang has registered just 10 shots on target in eight league games – a growing concern for Arteta following a second straight home defeat.
“It’s a team function and a collective thing we have to do more with the end product,” the Spaniard said when Aubameyang’s struggles were put to him.
“Of course, we can talk about if he’s in the right or wrong place but he was scoring before. We need to maintain the numbers we had defensively in our organisation and we have to improve our attacking numbers if we want to compete with the big teams.”
This was a collective setback for Arsenal, but where so often Aubameyang would drag them to victory last term, the goals have dried up ever since he signed a new three-year contract in September.
