Aubameyang and Lichtsteiner key to new era under Unai

IF TWO players more than anyone else are to implement his ‘new way’ at Arsenal then manager Unai Emery thinks he has found them in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Stephan Lichtsteiner. Aubameyang to be the key to bringing success on the pitch and Lichtsteiner to help spread the Spanish manager’s message in the dressing room. Emery took over from Arsene Wenger knowing two things would be integral to cementing Arsenal’s place back into the top four of the Premier League after consecutive finishes in the positions below. Firstly, goals and plenty of them. Only Alexis Sanchez and Robin van Persie have scored 20 or more in a single Premier League season for Arsenal over the last decade. Sanchez’s haul of 24 goals came two seasons ago, while Van Persie’s total of 30 won him the Golden Boot in the 2011-12 campaign. Aubameyang has Alexandre Lacazette and Danny Welbeck to share the load but the Gabon international knows he is the one Emery is relying on to lead the way. He showed signs that he could be the next Arsenal striker to terrorise defences after signing for £56million from Borussia Dortmund in January. The 29-year-old scored on his Gunners debut against Everton and went on to add nine more goals to give him a total of 10 in 13 appearances.

Deployed as a lone striker this season — his hunt for goals begins today against Premier League champions Manchester City at the Emirates — Emery has set Aubameyang the target of doing what he did in the Bundesliga last year, when he scored 31 goals to become the division’s top scorer.

‘Yes,’ Emery said when asked if Aubameyang should be challenging for the Golden Boot. ‘I want strikers who have the possibilities to go for goal, I want to give them more options to attack.’

But one of Emery’s first moves as Arsenal manager was to sign right-back Lichtsteiner, 34, on a free transfer from Juventus. And Emery revealed how the multiple Serie A winner, two-time Champions League finalist and long-serving Switzerland international is someone who is helping inspire the players and keep his message fresh.

‘You are working, thinking, in the present and the future,’ said Emery. ‘The past is good but it’s finished. This morning we were talking with the team and it was the moment for Lichtsteiner to speak. Maybe he is the player with us who has won the most titles. But after that we start with a new way. Remember your titles from a big career, but this is a new way to try to win more.’