‘He keeps letting the manager down’: Jamie O’Hara slams Arsenal player after win

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Jamie O’Hara has told talkSPORT (13/12; 08:44) that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang keeps letting Mikel Arteta down, and insisted that the Arsenal captaincy needs to be taken off the striker.

Aubameyang had an interesting week last week. The forward was initially left on the bench for Monday’s trip to Everton. And he was only introduced after Arteta had already turned to Eddie Nketiah ahead of him.

Aubameyang went on to miss a glorious chance in stoppage-time to earn Arsenal a point. It was a moment that perhaps summed up his form for the large part of this season.

Unfortunately, it would get worse for the 32-year-old. He was left out of the match day squad altogether for Saturday’s Premier League clash with Southampton. Arteta confirmed on the day that a breach of discipline was the reason for his absence.

‘It’s not acceptable’

The Athletic has now shed some light on what took place. Aubameyang was given permission to fly to France on Wednesday with the expectation that he would return later that day. However, the skipper actually returned on Thursday morning.

It is noted that he was believed to be on time to training. But Arteta took the decision following his late return to the country.

Of course, it is not the first time that Aubameyang has been punished for disciplinary issues. As noted by The Athletic, he also missed the North London derby last season.

And O’Hara has claimed that there is no way that Aubameyang can continue as captain off the back of this latest controversy.

“When you’re the captain of the football club, when you’re meant to be the main guy there, it’s not acceptable,” he told talkSPORT. “Different if you’re cast aside and you’re not in the squad and the manager doesn’t want you, you’re mentally not there anyway.

“But he’s a big part of what Arsenal are trying to do. He wants him involved, he’s the captain, he’s meant to lead the group and he keeps letting the manager down. Take the captaincy off him.”

Arteta has problem if Aubameyang is replaced as Arsenal captain

The problem Arteta has should he decide to replace Aubameyang, is that there is not necessarily an obvious replacement waiting in the wings.

Alexandre Lacazette is looking set to leave the club in the summer. Granit Xhaka has previously had the armband taken off of him.

Meanwhile, Arteta may be wary of putting too much pressure on youngsters such as Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka. Kieran Tierney is definitely an option. But as The Athletic notes, he is not a guaranteed starter right now.

Arteta has proved that he is not afraid of brave decisions after sanctioning Aubameyang. And picking his replacement – should he lose the captaincy – is not going to be easy.