Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has admitted Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang needs to improve if the club are to achieve their season goals.
The Gabon international has been a regular goalscorer since arriving in the Premier League in 2018, notching 22 goals in both of his two full seasons with the Gunners - a tally which was enough to earn him the Golden Boot alongside Liverpool duo Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah in 2018/19.
Aubameyang has struggled to maintain his high standards this season however - scoring just nine Premier League goals in 24 outings - and Arteta had conceded the team need more from him if they're to finish the season strongly.
"We talked for months about the ratio of goals we need him to score to give us the best possible chance of being at the top," he told reporters prior to Arsenal's clash with Liverpool on Saturday (via the Daily Mail).
"It has not been what it has been in recent years and it's a factor that is contributed to by a lot of things that the team has to do on the pitch. It is not just his thing.
"But obviously we need Auba in a different form in the next games to give us our best chance to finish where we want to finish the season, that's clear."
Following months of speculation surrounding his future in north London, Aubameyang penned fresh terms at the Emirates Stadium earlier this season and is now reportedly netting £350,000-a-week.
Arteta has refuted suggestions that the improved deal has anything to do with Aubameyang's recent dip in form and is adamant he's doing his utmost to help the club get back to where they want to be.
"It is easy to connect things like that, but I am not suspicious of that," he added. "I have seen, and we have had many conversations, about what he wanted to do from last year's point of view to his near future in the next two years, and he was very ambitious with that.
"To maintain that level is really complicated but he is trying his best, he is trying hard. That is what he is aiming to do."
Source : 90min