Mikel Arteta believes Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang s first open-play Premier League goal since the opening day of the season could dramatically change their season.
Arsenal could only draw 1-1 with Southampton at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday, but Arteta focused on the positives as the Gunners showed character when reduced to 10 men once again following the second-half dismissal of Gabriel Magalhaes.
It was their seventh sending off since Arteta s first game in charge on Boxing Day last year, four more red cards than any other team in that period.
Gabriel s two yellow cards in quick succession came at a time when Arsenal appeared to be growing in confidence, having seen Aubameyang cancel out Theo Walcott s first-half goal early in the second period.
Ultimately Arsenal held on to avoid suffering a historic fifth successive home league defeat, and Arteta believes Aubameyang s goal could be vital to the Gunners outlook, with it ending the striker s run of 11 league games without an open-play goal.
Hopefully it s going to change everything dramatically and he s going to start to score every game because this is what we need at the moment, Arteta told reporters.
648 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has ended a run of 648 minutes without a Premier League goal at the Emirates. Overdue.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe)
We need the points, we need to score many more goals and to be more efficient when we have the chances. I think it s going to make him really good.
Arteta was then asked if he had already seen a change in Aubameyang in the changing room, the Spaniard replaying: I don t have to see, I m sure it s going to take a lot of pressure off him and release him.
Aubameyang himself has received criticism of late for a perceived lack of leadership, the Gabon international keeping quiet amid Arsenal s struggles despite being captain.
But he dismissed the importance of that after the game and ignored talk of his goal.
At the moment, I m a guy when things are going wrong I just work a lot, I try to do my job, to give everything, and I give my advice inside [the club], and it s true I ve not spoken a lot in the last few weeks, but I m here and I want to talk on the pitch, that s it, he told Amazon Prime.
I think tonight is not about my goal and me, it s about the team. As I say, we need points, it doesn t matter if I score, the most important thing is to get points.
Despite salvaging a point, Arsenal s haul of 14 from 13 games is their lowest tally at this stage of a top-flight season since 1974-75.
