Arsenal have fourth spot in their sights ahead of their Premier League home clash with London rivals West Ham United at the Emirates Stadium later this week. The Gunners welcome their London opponents with the knowledge that a win will take them above their guests and into the top four for the first time this season as far as the Premier League log is concerned.
Mikel Arteta and his Arsenal players could have taken fourth spot if they defeated Manchester United away from home at the start of the month. In the end, they missed the opportunity despite taking the lead during the game. Manchester United came from a goal down to beat Arsenal 3-2 to prevent the North Londoners from taking fourth spot. Emile Smith-Rowe and Martin Odegaard were the goalscorers for the Gunners during the game, while Cristiano Ronaldo (2) and Bruno Fernandes were on target for the Gunners.
Ahead of the West Ham game, the situation surrounding dethroned team skipper Pierre-EmerickAubameyang has dominated the media. Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta stated thatAubameyang has been stripped of his duties as Arsenal captain during his latest press conference on Tuesday. Earlier in the day, the club had earlier released a statement which stated that Aubameyang has been dropped as the Arsenal captain.
Aubameyang breached disciplinary rulesat the club last week and he was taken out of the Arsenal squad for the Southampton game at the weekend and he will also miss the West Ham United game as confirmed by Mikel Arteta in his presser. When the Gabonese international will return to the Arsenal squad is not known at the moment.