Mikel Arteta: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang needs to think less to score more

Mikel Arteta believes Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is overthinking his goal drought and has called on Arsenal’s squad to help lighten their captain’s load.

The Gunners face Burnley on Sunday and sit just seven points ahead of their visitors having lost their last three Premier League games at the Emirates Stadium.

Arteta’s side are without a league win of any kind since a 1-0 victory at Manchester United on November 1 – a game decided by an Aubameyang penalty.

That remains just the Gunners skipper’s second league goal of the campaign, the other – and only strike from open play – coming in a win at Fulham on the first weekend of the season.

Having been in fine form ever since moving to Arsenal from Borussia Dortmund in January 2018, Aubameyang’s recent barren run started after he ended a long-running saga by signing a new and improved deal in north London.

Now Arteta believes the Gabon forward may have a mental hurdle he needs to clear to get back in the race for goals.

„Sometimes it is how much you think and with natural strikers, like Auba, it comes in a natural way,“ he replied when asked if a drop in confidence may have been a contributing factor to Aubameyang’s poor form.

„He doesn’t need to think, the action is there and he makes the choice in the right moment, with the right foot and plays the ball into where it needs to be.

„Sometimes when you are in this sort of spell, you overthink a little bit. So you have to let that flow go because in the end this is something he has done in his whole career.

„There is nothing we have to teach him to do differently to what he has done in the past.“
In previous seasons Aubameyang has competed for – and won – the Premier League’s golden boot.

This year, however, he is already nine goals behind Dominic Calvert-Lewin, the Everton striker leading the way with 11.

His team-mates have also been struggling to find the back of the net; only Sunday’s visitors Burnley – as well as Sheffield United and West Brom – have scored fewer than Arsenal’s 10 goals so far.

Arteta is keen for his other players to start weighing in with goals to help ease the burden on Aubameyang.

„Individually, we are doing a lot of work – to see where he scores his goals, how he gets them provided, the areas he needs to attack and the type of finishes he is efficient with,“ added the Spaniard.

„But when you have a player in that type of spell, you need other players to step up for him. Then that process becomes much easier.

„The problem is when we have two, three or four players in the same way then it becomes unattainable.

„So you need someone in there to help him and someone there to step in and do the job for him. Then things come more naturally because the pressure is not as big.“

Arsenal vs Burnley on Sky: Partey out for Gunners
Arsenal will be without Thomas Partey for Sunday’s visit of Burnley. The midfielder remains sidelined with a thigh problem, while club-record signing Nicolas Pepe misses out as he serves the last of a three-game ban following his red card at Leeds.

There are no other injury concerns for Arteta, who may be tempted to shuffle his pack in an attempt to return to winning ways in the league.

Burnley are unlikely to be able to welcome back any of their injured quartet. Phil Bardsley appears the most likely to feature following a rib injury but boss Sean Dyche is not expected to recall the full-back.

Likewise Johan Berg Gudmundsson, Dale Stephens and Jack Cork are all missing with the hope they could feature at some point during the festive fixtures.

How to follow
Arsenal vs Burnley will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Premier League and Main Event from 7pm on Sunday; kick-off at 7.15pm. Sky Sports customers can watch in-game clips in the live match blog on the Sky Sports website and app. Free highlights will also be published on the Sky Sports digital platforms and the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel shortly after the final whistle.

Soccer Accumulator Bonus

Our fantastic Euro Soccer accumulator offer gives you the chance to earn a bonus of up to 100% on accumulators on the top domestic leagues in Europe along with the group and knockout stages of the Champions League.

This offer applies to returns on pre-match accumulators of 3 or more selections on Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for the English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga 1 or UEFA Champions League.

The maximum bonus that you can receive is ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. The bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based .on the remaining active stake. If a qualifying bet is edited .using our Edit Bet feature. The bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply. Double Chance bets or combination bets with bonuses. Such as Lucky 15’s or Lucky .31’s do not apply for this offer.

If your bet is successful, we will add the following bonuses to your returns:

Bet Type Bonus

14-folds and upwards 100% bonus
Terms and Conditions
Applies to straight pre-match accumulator bets on the Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga .1 or Australian A-League matches. Maximum bonus ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. Soccer Accumulator Bonus does not apply to Double Chance bets or combination. bets with bonuses such as Lucky 15’s, Lucky 31’s etc.

If any selections are postponed/void then the bonus will still apply, but the percentage bonus added will reflect the actual number of winning selections. For example, an 8-fold accumulator with 7. winners and 1 postponed match will receive a 30% .bonus to returns.
The bonus part of your returns will be added to your account within 24 hours of your final selection having played.
This bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based on the remaining active stake.

If a qualifying bet is edited using our Edit Bet feature, the bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply.

Where any term of the offer or promotion is breached or there is any evidence of a series of bets placed by a customer or group of customers, which due to a deposit bonus, enhanced payments, free bets, risk free bets or any other promotional offer results in guaranteed customer profits irrespective of the outcome, whether individually or as part of a group, bet365 reserves the right to reclaim the bonus element of such offers and in their absolute discretion either settle bets at the correct odds, void the free and risk free. bets or void any bet funded by the deposit bonus.

In addition bet365 .reserve the right to levy an administration charge on the customer up to the value of the deposit bonus, free bet, risk free bet or additional payment to cover administrative costs. We further reserve the right to ask any customer to provide sufficient documentation for us to be satisfied in our absolute discretion as to the customer’s identity prior to us crediting any bonus, free bet, risk free bet or offer to their account.

All bet365 offers are intended for recreational players and bet365 may in its sole discretion limit the eligibility of customers to participate in all or part of any promotion.

bet365 reserves the right to amend, cancel, reclaim or refuse any promotion at its own discretion.