Arsenal hero Gabriel Magalhaes\u2019s second-half goal gave the Gunners all three Premier League points against Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Magalhaes took it upon himself to make a cheeky dig at Aubameyang\u00a0following Arsena\u2019s 1-0 win\u00a0against Chelsea\u00a0on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n
The Gunners secured all three points at Stamford Bridge courtesy of Gabriel’s second-half winner and secured a huge win for Mikel Arteta’s side, returning to the top of the Premier League\u00a0table only 24 hours after Manchester City\u00a0had displaced them temporarily.<\/p>\n
The majority of the talk pre-game had been on Aubameyang’s first meeting against Arsenal\u00a0since he was released in February, with the Gabon international chosing to fan the flames with \u201c… I’m back, I’m Blue, I’m ready – let’s go”.<\/p>\n
Aubameyang’s message must have been taken to heart by his former teammates as Magalhaie took to Twitter to\u00a0respond “NOTHING PERSONAL .. LONDON IS RED.”<\/p>\n
A large portion of Arsenal fans had suspected Aubameyang’s incendiary pre-match comments would spur their team on to win Sunday afternoon’s game, as it had happened last season when Ivan Toney tweeted, “Nice kick about with the boys” after Brentford dismantled Arsenal.<\/p>\n
Arteta had then used cleverly Toney’s comments as a clever ruse to motivate his players ahead of the return game at the Emirates, which the Gunners won. They then inflicted another defeat on Brentford in September, leaving Gabriel to jokingly tweet, “Nice kick about with the boys.”<\/p>\n
Arteta described Aubameyang as “very dangerous” ahead of Sunday afternoon’s game despite the latter\u2019s provocative comments and was been anticpating a goal from the forward. The decision to release him in February had been immensely controversial with many fans furious to see a player of that caliber being prodded to leave.<\/p>\n
Aubameyang was dropped by Arteta in December following a disciplinary breach and never played for the club again. He then took up arms with Barcelona\u00a0and scored 11 goals in 17 LaLiga games to show Arsenal they had indeed fumbled in making him leave.<\/p>\n
Aubameyang had been expected to remain at Barcelona after his impressive half-season there but was snapped up by his former Dorssia Dortmund gaffer Thomas Tuchel then for Chelsea late in the summer. The striker has since made a decent start to life at Stamford Bridge scoring three goals to prove he’s still a threat at this level, despite Tuchel having been sacked subsequently.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately Aubameyang couldn’t make really make his presence felt where it was most needed goals-wide on Sunday afternoon, earning a 4\/10 rating from Mirror Football\u2019s chef football correspondent John Cross. Arteta was delighted his young centre-backs Gabriel and William Saliba nullified the experienced striker.<\/p>\n
“For such a young team, the maturity, composure and resilience they showed was phenomenal,” said Arteta. “Winning in this stadium against this opponent is another step for this team, to keep believing they can do it under pressure and against big opponents.”<\/p>\n
Chelsea boss Graham Potter admitted: “We played against a team in a really good moment, they boys gave everything. A huffing and puffing performance without the quality we need. You have to look at where the two teams are at, they\u2019ve been playing together a long time. We\u2019re in a different phase.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"