On Sunday, Tottenham and Arsenal go head-to-head for the first time this campaign with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang going through his worst spell at the Emirates.
Prolific for two-and-a-half seasons, before his new contract in September, the Gabon striker now has just one goal in the Premier League since mid-September – and even that was a penalty against Manchester United
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Once the most feared forward in the division, he’s now currently a shadow of himself as the Gunners struggle to get up and running in 2020/21.
Mikel Arteta’s men are sitting 14th in the Premier League table and while they are just seven points away from the relegation zone, they are also eight points off top spot.
If they are to target the upper echelons of the division and those all important European places, they need Aubameyang to get back to his best, and quick.
The forward line is in sharp contrast to the one they will face, with Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son having scored 16 times between them – that’s six more than Arsenal have in total in the league.
Aubameyang is usually a man for the big occasion and he’s no stranger to a goal against Spurs either, with seven goals and an assist in nine games.
But what’s been going wrong this season and what should Arteta to do to get him ready for the enormous north London derby at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium?
talkSPORT has been getting the views of former Premier League stars on this and it’s not as easy as it might sound.
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Second thoughts about his new contract?
Former Arsenal striker John Hartson is concerned the form of the club’s star man may come from his frustrations about the players around him not pulling their weight.
But the Welshman insisted he must start doing his all to right his own form, especially after landing his bumper new contract.
He told talkSPORT 2: “They pulled out all the stops to get him. We know of his quality. He just doesn’t seem as though he’s in sync with the others at times.
“He’s not making those blistering runs in behind that we saw him make last season, which earned him the contract.
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“I just think the fans deserve a little bit more out of him.
“I don’t want to call him disinterested. I don’t want to label that on him but maybe he’s a bit frustrated with the other players.
“He just looks as if he’s looking around at times thinking, ‘I’m maybe better than being here’, do you know?
“But listen they gave him an awful lot of money, they gave him a nice contract and he should be chomping at the bit. Running around like what earned him the contract.”
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Darren Bent has a similar theory about the 31-year-old’s form this campaign, just a matter of weeks after he finished his second successive 22-goal Premier League season.
He told talkSPORT: “When you look at Aubameyang’s performances before he signed the contract, he was running after everything. He was tracking back, he was putting tackles in.
“People didn’t really speak about their creativity then because he was doing so much. He was probably going above and beyond. So people expected that to continue starting against Fulham, first game of the season, he’s superb again. Got the contract.
“He just seems to have come away from it a little bit. Now, I understand strikers go through patches in their career where they are not quite scoring goals and confidence is low but you can still put effort in, you can still put work rate in and I think, right now, questions have to be asked.
“I think he might even be asking questions of the Arsenal squad because he probably thought to himself when he signed the contract, ‘how far away, realistically, are we from Champions League football again?’, which is where he wants to be playing.
“I’d still say Arsenal are a little bit away from that so he is probably questioning himself now, ‘have I done the right thing here, should I have signed this contract?’
“If your best player is performing like that then there are some real concerns in this Arsenal squad.”
Don’t drop him or change his role
Liverpool hero Danny Murphy believes, having seen Aubameyang used centrally in recent weeks, Arteta must return to his old formation and play him off the flank.
And he’s also poured cold water on any suggestions the forward should be dropped for his poor spell.
“Get Aubameyang on the left, get Lacazette up top” he said speaking to White and Jordan. “They like playing together those two. They do. They’re more productive when they play together.
“He’s had a bad run but what do you do, put him on the bench? Don’t put him on the bench.
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“I played with Michael Owen and he didn’t score for nine games once. Then he scored a hat-trick against Manchester City. He went on to have one of his [best seasons].”
And former Premier League striker Bent has also warned against playing Aubameyang through the middle.
He added: “People have been crying out for him to be playing in his normal position, which is centre-forward, but he played there [against Leeds] and was non-existent.”
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A lack of confidence
So what is the biggest issue for Aubameyang right now? Is it the formation, the personnel, or maybe just his own age catching up with him?
Watford striker Troy Deeney believes the main problem is the forward’s lost some of his previous confidence leading him to take up less threatening positions on the pitch as he looks to get himself into the game.
He explained on the Sports Breakfast: “I looked at him very keenly to see, is he showing the willingness to go and score a goal? And the answer to that at the moment is no.
“When you go through a bad patch, you start coming back a bit more… he’s coming away from the goal.
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“So when you’re in a great vein of form, you’ll always find yourself in the six-yard box because you’re going, ‘there will be a chance here’ and the ball starts dropping [to you].
“When you’re going through a little drought, you naturally start coming away from the goal.”
Asked by talkSPORT host Laura Woods why that is, Deeney replied: “A lack of confidence.
“Your head starts going, ‘If I get one, I’ll actually miss it because I haven’t scored in so long’ more than actually being in fine form and going, ‘I’ll just hit it and it’ll go in’.
“You naturally see people go back or they’ll go to the left or right and they’ll just come away from the goal a little bit. I’m seeing him start to do that.”
One goal really could kick-start his season and, as Murphy alluded to, many other top strikers have had their droughts and still gone on to have stellar years.
It will, though, remain a worry he’s in decline, especially while his teammates are unable to share the load with him.
And even if he is out of sorts, you wouldn’t put it past him rolling back the years in the north London derby on Sunday.
It’s the perfect game to prove he’s got plenty left to give Arsenal and it could be the inspiration the player and the club both need.
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