Arsenal’s Africans: Season Preview - African Football HQ

It’s an African Football HQ podcast special this week, as Malek Shafei and Ed Dove preview the season ahead for Arsenal’s African stars.

There’s significant continental interest at the Emirates Stadium, with five high-profile African stars set to play major roles in Mikel Arteta’s plans this season.

In Saturday’s Community Shield final victory over Liverpool, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was again the hero—netting the opener after 12 minutes, before converting the decisive spot kick in the shootout after Rhian Brewster had fluffed his lines.

Shafei believes Aubameyang is the best striker in the Premier League, and will again compete for the Golden Boot, but Dove is concerned about the ongoing uncertainty regarding his contractual situation.

Arteta appears confidence, while Auba is evasive, is this still really a case of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ the Gabon hitman puts pen to paper?

Elsewhere, some eyebrows were raised when Bukayo Saka was missed out of Gareth Southgate’s latest England squad, meaning that…for now…he remains eligible for the Super Eagles.

Considering his sustained excellence for the North London heavyweights, both international sides ought to be going all-out to try to recruit the versatile wonderkid. 

His assist for Auba on Saturday was his 13th in all competitions since the start of the 2019-20 season—quite remarkable considering he’d only played seven minutes of Prem action before the start of that campaign—and only Kevin De Bruyne and Trent Alexander-Arnold have set up more goals in all comps during that time period.

In the pod, we also assess Mohamed Elneny’s return to action under Arteta, and his surprise starting berth against Liverpool. Was this another false dawn for the Egypt international—who last played for the Gunners 15 months ago—or could it be the start of a second coming for the former FC Basel man in North London?

Based on the evidence of Saturday’s performance, he could well have a role to play this season; central midfield has been an area of concern for the club—the futures of Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi remain uncertain—while he offers the kind of aggression and tenacity that can be lacking at the club.

Finally, we also examine whether Nicolas Pepe can improve this term, and assess what reported arrivals such as Amadou Diawara, Thomas Partey and Houssem Aouar would bring to the Arsenal midfield.