Wenger expects a ‘much sharper’ Aubameyang vs. Manchester City

Having sat out Arsenal’s last two games, Arsene Wenger expects Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang to be ‘much sharper’ in Sunday’s English League Cup final against Manchester City.

On the back of his record move to the Emirates, Aubameyang has played only two games, both coming in the English Premier League.

He enjoyed a dream debut against Everton before enduring a frustrating second outing in their 1-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspurs at Wembley on February 10.

The game against Mauricio Pochettino’s side was the last time the Gabon international saw action as he was cup-tied for the Uefa Europa League doubleheader against Ostersunds.

Now raring to lead the line against Pep Guardiola’s men, the French tactician revealed they took advantage of his two-week break to work on the physical aspect of his game.

“He has only played twice but on the other hand, when he came here he had not played for a while,” Wenger was quoted as saying by ESPN.

“He was not at his best physically and we took advantage of the last two weeks to build him up physically.

“I think he will be much sharper than he was. You could see day after day that he is much sharper than he was two or three weeks ago.”

Auba PS

Wenger admitted that the former Borussia Dortmund man is yet to gel completely into his setup, but believes his teammates can help by playing to his ‘great strengths’ against the Premier League leaders.

 “[His understanding with teammates] is not ideal,” he added. “But I think his great strengths are his finishing, the quality of his runs and his pace, of course.

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“Our target on Sunday will be to find him two or three times each half in dangerous positions because he is sharp now.

“The handicap is that we have not played a lot with him but his runs are so clever that I think we have players who can find him.”

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