Mikel Arteta hopes Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will stay at Arsenal to lead the Gunners to more success after scoring twice to beat Chelsea 2-1 in the FA Cup final on Saturday.
Arsenal captain
Aubameyang dropped the trophy before lifting his first piece of silverware since
moving to English football from Borussia Dortmund two and a half years ago.
Victory secured
Arsenal’s place in the Europa League next season as they risked missing out on
European football for the first time in 25 years after finishing eighth in the
Premier League.
But with Aubameyang
facing another season without Champions League football and just one year left
on his contract at the Emirates, the Gabon international has been linked with a
move away this summer.
“He needs more
experience with trophies. We can get him used to that,” joked Arteta at
Aubameyang’s mishap with the trophy lift.
“He knows what I
think about him, I want to build a squad around him.”
“I think he wants
to stay, it is about getting the deal done.
“I think moments
like that will help to realise and give him belief that we are in the right
path and he is a big part of it.”
Arteta also played
his part to win a trophy in his first season in a senior managerial role after
Chelsea made a blistering start in the eerie surroundings of an empty Wembley.
The Blues had
already achieved their primary goal from Frank Lampard’s first season in charge
by securing a place in next season’s Champions League last weekend and started
confidently as Christian Pulisic’s composed finish opened the scoring just five
minutes in.
“We started well
for 10-15 minutes and we can only blame ourselves form that point,” said
Lampard. “We got complacent, we took time on the ball like it was a stroll and
we allowed them into the game.”
Injuries hurt Chelsea
Arteta managed to
reorganise the Gunners during the first-half drinks break to change the
momentum of the game.
A minute after play
resumed, Nicolas Pepe thought he had curled home a brilliant equaliser from the
edge of the box, only to be denied by Ainsley Maitland-Niles being flagged for
offside in the build-up.
Just like in the
semi-final win over Manchester City, Aubameyang proved to be Arsenal’s match
winner as he raced onto Kieran Tierney’s hopeful ball over the top and outpaced
Cesar Azpilicueta before being brought down by the Chelsea captain just inside
the area.
Azpilicueta escaped
the double punishment of a red card, but VAR confirmed the spot-kick and
Aubameyang coolly slotted home.
Chelsea were
further hit by two big injury blows either side of half-time as Azpilicueta and
Pulisic pulled up with hamstring injuries that will almost certainly rule them
out of the Champions League last 16, second leg against Bayern Munich next
weekend.
Despite Chelsea’s
major spending spree on Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech to reinforce their attack
for next season, it is at the back where they have been found wanting all
season and they were caught out too easily for the winner.
Hector Bellerin
burst through the weak challenge of Jorginho before the ball was played into
the path of Aubameyang, who skipped past Kurt Zouma and nonchalantly lifted the
finish over Willy Caballero for his 29th goal of the season.
Worse was to come
for Lampard’s men when Mateo Kovacic was inexplicably sent off for the
slightest touch on Granit Xhaka, but Anthony Taylor’s decision could not be
reviewed by VAR as it was a second bookable offence.
And a miserable day
was rounded off deep into stoppage time when Pedro Rodriguez’s Chelsea career
ended in the Spaniard also being carried off with a dislocated shoulder ahead
of his move to Roma.
“It all came
together for us today, two hamstrings, a dislocated shoulder,” added Lampard. “It’s
the end of a long season and it was the tipping point for us.”
