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PIERRE-EMERICK AUBAMEYANG will again be frozen out by Mikel Arteta as punishment for the late return to England that cost him the Arsenal captaincy. Aubameyang has missed the last two games as furious Arteta lost patience with his striker for the latest lack of discipline.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will again be frozen out by Mikel Arteta againCredit: Getty
And the Gunners boss has revealed the 31-year-old will have no part to play in Saturday’s match with Arsenal, as his exile continues.
Arteta said: “No, he is not available for this game.”
Asked if he had a future at the club, Arteta added: “He is not available for this game.”
The forward was first dropped by Arteta for Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Southampton after arriving back late from an authorised trip to France.
It ultimately resulted in Aubameyang losing the Arsenal armband after his manager lost patience.
The Gabon striker was dropped in March for the Gunners’ North London derby clash with Spurs – after another ‘disciplinary breach’.
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The 32-year-old was appointed captain in 2019 after Granit Xhaka was stripped of the role.
As Aubameyang’s rift with manager Arteta shows no sign of resolve, Gunners legend Ian Wright admitted feels disappointed by the situation.
Wright told Premier League Productions: “He’s just not entertaining anything to do with Aubameyang and I totally understand when he says he just wants to concentrate on what happened today and he doesn’t want to talk about it.
“But I don’t think you can continue to avoid it, especially in the way that it has come about. At some stage you’re going to have to quash it or talk about it.
“He’s got the capability of killing it and saying, ‘Yeah, he’s in the plans and he’s an Arsenal player’, and he didn’t do it.
“I was hoping for something like that because what you want now is everything’s done, Arsenal have won, they’ve played brilliantly, the boss has been vindicated for his decisions so just quash it so they can move on.”
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Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has missed the last two gamesCredit: Rex More

THE curse of the Arsenal captaincy may not have lifted just yet – but Mikel Arteta’s men still propelled themselves into the top four.Alex Lacazette, a stand-in skipper after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was stripped of his stripes and frozen out of the squad, had a penalty saved by former Gunner Lucasz Fabianski.
Arsenal celebrate their 2-0 win over West HamCredit: EPA
Gabriel Martinelli was excellent and scored the opening goal
Lacazette had worked his conkers off all night, assisting Gabriel Martinelli’s opener and earning the penalty which saw West Ham’s Vladimir Coufal sent off for a second yellow card midway through the second half.
But while Lacazette couldn’t crown his performance with a goal, Mikel Arteta’s men leapt above the Hammers into the Champions League places with a slow-burner of a display – 35 minutes of dross, before a vast improvement which merited this victory.
Emile Smith Rowe added a late second as Arteta’s kids continue to power Arteta’s bid for a return to the European elite.
Aubameyang had been axed as captain on the eve of this match after a series of disciplinary breaches – and while there is no permanent successor yet, Lacazette did his case no harm here.
Arteta’s young side are very much a work in progress – there are moments of quality mixed with panics and brain-freezes.
But they deservedly defeated a West Ham side who have overcome both Chelsea and Liverpool this season.
This may not be a genuine rivalry – both clubs are too busy despising Tottenham to loathe one another – but under Moyes, the Hammers have been making it difficult for grander London clubs to pat them on the head and patronise them.
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Gabriel Martinelli slots past Lukasz FabianskiCredit: Richard Pelham / The Sun
Gabriel Martinelli wheels off in celebrationCredit: Richard Pelham / The SunMark Halsey’s viewWEST HAM were extremely unlucky when Vladimir Coufal conceded a penalty for a challenge on Arsenal’s Alexandre Lacazette.

The Hammers defender won the ball — but referee Anthony Taylor then pointed to the spot.
It was not a penalty.
If anything, Lacazette went into Coufal’s leg — what was the Czech right-back  supposed to do? 
Taylor is perceived to be one of our best referees, but this poor decision again shows something has to happen with the education and training.
The fact that Taylor delayed blowing the whistle for three seconds highlighted there was doubt in his mind.
To compound the penalty, Coufal was also red-carded for a second caution. 
We have had a series of  bad decisions recently and here’s another one.

For Moyes, it was a 600th Premier League game as a manager – a feat previously achieved only by Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and Harry Redknapp.
The majority of those came at Everton, where Arteta had been an outstanding servant in midfield.
Arsenal’s manager named an unchanged side, leaving his inspirational Smith Rowe on the bench – and how both teams could have done with a little inspiration early on.
The armband seems to have given Lacazette a lift – the French striker was the liveliest man on the pitch early on, winning a dangerous free-kick from Rice, then executing a back-heeled nutmeg and dropping back to win possession in midfield.
As for the other 21 of them, it was a horribly scruffy opening – as if they’d all signed up for a world-record attempt for sheer volume of misplaced passes.
We had to wait 34 minutes for a decent effort on goal – Pablo Fornals drilling wide across goal.
But as the quality of passing descended from bang-average to God-awful, Arsenal suddenly produced an actual move.
Vladimir Coufal fouls Alexandre Lacazette, conceding a penaltyCredit: Richard Pelham / The Sun
Coufal was controversially sent off for the HammersCredit: Reuters
Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard played a neat one-two in the West Ham box and after a Granit Xhaka shot was blocked, Kieran Tierney let rip from 25 yards and Fabianski tipped onto the crossbar.
The Pole is a far better keeper now than when he was written off as ‘Flappyhandski’ in his Arsenal days and his touch was crucial.
Soon, Fabianski pushed out a powerful drive from Lacazette and Martinelli could only stab wide from the rebound.
But the main reflection on the first half was that Manchester United will want shooting if they can’t finish above both of these teams and claim a Champions League place.
Arsenal, fleas in ears, rockets up jacksies, were right at it after the interval.
They seized the lead within three minutes of the restart, Lacazette finding rare space and slipping a well-weighted pass into the path of Martinelli, who side-footed neatly into the far corner.
Just as the Emirates started to buzz, Odegaard’s doxy pass allowed Jarrod Bowen a deflected shot which Aaron Ramsdale met with a gymnastic save.
Alexandre Lacazette misses a penaltyCredit: Richard Pelham / The Sun
Alexandre Lacazette reacts to his missed penaltyCredit: Reuters
But Lacazette was now giving Craig Dawson nightmares every time Arsenal attacked and with the West Ham centre-back on a yellow card, the Gunners were sensing a second.
They should have had it midway through the half when Coufal – booked early on – was sent off after conceding a penalty.
The Czech went on to ground, getting something of the ball but flooring Lacazette with his follow-through – a ‘modern foul’ either harsh or fair, depending on your age.
But Fabianski denied Lacazette from the spot, diving low to his left.
Still, the ten men always looked vulnerable and Smith Rowe, on as a sub for Odegaard, latched on to a Saka pass and nutmegged Issa Diop to deceive Fabianski for a late clincher.
Emile Smith Rowe makes it 2-0 for ArsenalCredit: Reuters
Arsenal celebrate their second goalCredit: Richard Pelham / The Sun More

PIERRE-EMERICK AUBAMEYANG could be stripped of the Arsenal captaincy after he was axed for disciplinary reasons for the second time this year.Fuming boss Mikel Arteta left Aubameyang out of his matchday squad completely after deciding his £250,000-a-week captain had again let him down by returning back late from an overseas trip.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could be stripped of the Arsenal captaincy after a ‘disciplinary issue’Credit: Rex
The 31-year-old was dropped for the North London derby against Tottenham in March over persistent time-keeping problems having been caught up in traffic on the way to the game.
But this latest incident, which is thought to also have involved falling foul of new Covid-19 travel testing requirements, appears to being taken far more seriously.
Arteta refused to go into any further detail after Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Southampton, but also pointedly pulled back from answering whether he will remain as club captain.
And the disciplinary process is still ongoing, which could see the club’s biggest star hit with a heavy fine and further action like ending his time as captain.
The Spanish boss said: “It was a disciplinary breach and that’s why he was out of the squad.
“I think we have been very consistent that we have certain non-negotiables in the team that we have set ourselves as a club.
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“Let’s talk about the game guys. I try to explain to you what it was and I did it frankly, and I am not going to say anything else.
“I am going to focus on the performance and what the team did on the pitch.
“You are not going to get anything else out of me that happened in the dressing room.”
Arteta added: “It starts today. But certainly it’s not an easy situation, a situation that we want to have our club captain in.”
The Gabon star is understood to have been given permission to travel abroad earlier this week because of a family issue, but then reported back late from that.
It starts today. But certainly it’s not an easy situation, a situation that we want to have our club captain in.Mikel Arteta on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
New UK rules mean travellers need to self-isolate on their return until they get the result of a PCR coronavirus test, which is also thought to have caused a problem.
Aubameyang still has 18 months left to run on his Arsenal contract but this is just the latest episode in what appears to be a stormy relationship with his manager.
Arteta has been resolute in his position that he has total control on first team matters, and places huge importance in all his players maintaining discipline.
Such a stance has already seen him decide Matteo Guendouzi did not have a future at the Emirates after a series of problems, and now the same fate could befall Aubameyang.
But the biggest problem is whether Arsenal would find anyone willing to pay a fee for the player if they decided to offload him, let alone come up with a package to match his current deal.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta did not rule out stripping Aubameyang of the captaincyCredit: AP More