Was there any doubt when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang stepped up to take Arsenal’s fifth and final penalty in Saturday’s Community Shield against Liverpool? Probably not. Not in his new playground, at least.
It’s been an interesting few weeks for the North London giants, with three giant scalps at Wembley against teams possessing superior technical quality. There was a hugely impressive 2-0 FA Cup semi-final success over Manchester City, followed by a 2-1 win over capital rivals Chelsea in the decider, which came after they’d fallen behind to an early Christian Pulisic effort.
Saturday’s win over Liverpool didn’t quite come in 90 minutes, still, Jurgen Klopp’s team, lined-up with all the heavy-hitters in the squad except Trent Alexander-Arnold, were favoured to wipe the floor with Mikel Arteta’s side.
As it turned out, Arsenal weren’t disgraced. In truth, they limited the Premier League champions to a handful of clear-cut opportunities.
In the first-half at the Home of Football, the world champions were underwhelming and were laboured in possession, despite having a lion’s share of it before the interval. Instead, the Reds failed to test the confident Emiliano Martinez in the opening 45, with the Gunners retaining the greater threat in transition.
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The greatest evidence of this came in Aubameyang’s brilliant 12th-minute goal.
Arteta’s team played through their opponent’s press in remarkable fashion and the ball fell to the hugely talented Bukayo Saka wide on the right. The youngster spotted his skipper free on the far side and played a pin-point diagonal to the top class marksman, who chopped into his stronger foot and curled his effort beyond Alisson Becker.
Subsequently, there were half-chances to increase their advantage, with Eddie Nketiah the main culprit in the misses. Liverpool had a better go after the break and took control of the game as the Gunners tired.
They got the equalizer but Arsenal held on and it went to penalties. After Rhian Brewster missed, it was up to the London side’s go-to man to deliver another honour...which he did. It was never in doubt, was it?
For those keeping score, Arsenal have now scored five goals in three important games at Wembley...all scored by their terrific skipper who, it seems, isn’t planning to slow down after arguably his greatest ever individual season.
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It wasn’t so long ago that critics criticised his lack of end product in really tight games against either superior opposition or teams on equal footing as the three-time Premier League champions. Ask those observers again, and there’s likely to be egg of their face.
While the Community Shield, amusingly over the years, gets played down by the losing side and hyped up by the winner, the quality of opposition the Gunners have now defeated in the last six weeks shows why Gooners have a right to be excited despite Saturday’s victory in a ‘glorified friendly’.
Games are won by goals, and even though Arsenal have defended well for those 270 minutes against teams that ended 2019/20 above them, it was Auba’s goals that won two of those encounters. He’s now scored five times in three games at Wembley in the space of six weeks.
Surely, that is unprecedented? Without question, such an influence at the New Wembley is probably unrivalled by anyone...well, maybe one: Didier Drogba. The Chelsea legend’s impact at the ground is enormous, with FA Cup final goals in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2012, games the Blues ultimately won.
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The retired Ivory Coast forward’s love affair with the rebuilt stadium began on the very first game after its complete refurbishment, winning Chelsea their first title in the competition in seven years.
That extra-time strike was enough to prevent Manchester United claiming the Double in what was a cagey decider.
Drogba then levelled for the Blues in the final vs Everton two years later (they won 2-1), netted a well-taken free-kick to decide a tight final against Portsmouth 1-0 as the West Londoners secured their first Double.
Their icon’s last strike, his fourth successive in FA Cup finals, came in a 2-1 success over Liverpool, which cemented his ‘King of Wembley’ tag.
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Observers remember the important strikes in deciders, but there were also important goals in the semis, too, notably the late winner vs Arsenal, opening effort in an eventual 3-0 success over Aston Villa and self-made belter against Tottenham Hotspur in 2009, 2010 and 2012 respectively.
The goal in the 2008 League Cup final defeat by Spurs at Wembley is barely remembered but it was one of the West African’s strikes at the iconic ground.
Indeed, this is what Arsenal’s Aubameyang is up against. However, it is to the Gabon star’s credit that he’s coming up trumps despite playing in teams probably not as strong as Drogba's Chelsea sides.
There’s still a long way to supplant Drogba as the undisputed King of Wembley but, given the recent evidence, Aubameyang is certainly not doing his chances any harm.
