Mikel Arteta has warned club captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang he will have to earn his place back in the Arsenal side after being dropped from the starting lineup to face Spurs shortly before kick-off.
Aubameyang was left on the bench during Sunday's north London derby win, after he arrived late to the stadium, apparently having been stuck in traffic.
Speaking ahead of the club's crucial clash with Olympiacos at the Emirates Stadium, the Arteta was pressed on whether his captain would walk straight back into the team on Thursday night.
Arteta told reporters, via Goal: “No, everybody has to obviously perform at the highest level to earn his place in the team and there is no exceptions there. We will try to put out a really competitive team to try and win the game.”
To leave Aubameyang out of the north London derby, a game that means so much to the club's faithful was a bold move by Arteta and one that would have undoubtedly seen him criticised had the Gunners not taken all three points.
According to The Athletic, Aubameyang left the Emirates Stadium in his Ferrari 20 minutes after the full-time whistle, having refused to take part in the warm down with the other unused substitutes.
However, in his press conference ahead of the Olympiacos game, Arteta said 'positive talks' had been held between the two since.
Aubameyang's form hasn't been as impressive this season but despite the general consensus being that he has grossly underperformed, he has still managed 14 goals in 29 appearances.
If the Gunners are to go far in Europe and make a push for the European places in the Premier League between now and the end of the season, they will need their talismanic striker to be on top form - that means moving on from the incident that took place on Sunday.
Source : 90min