Stats show Arsenal better off without Aubameyang as axed star prepares for reunion

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The striker has been a divisive figure around Arsenal since his high-profile fallout with Mikel Arteta that led to him having his contract terminated, before joining Barcelona in January this year, eight months before then moving on to Chelsea.

Ahead of the clash with his former employers, the 33-year-old caused a stir by appearing in BT Sport's advert for the fixture in which he provoked the north London side by saying: "I'm back. I'm Blue. I'm ready."

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While the Gabon international will have been hoping to strike fear into his former club with those comments, the reality is that couldn't be further from the truth.

In fact, Arsenal have statistically improved in terms of points per game (PPG) and goals per game (GPG) since Aubameyang dropped out of Arsenal's plans.

Aubameyang's individual strike rate has always been impressive, scoring goals for fun with the likes of Borussia Dortmund and the Gunners.

However, after penning his lucrative contract with the north London club in 2020, things started to go a little bit downhill as far as the team were concerned.

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In the 2020/21 season, Aubameyang scored 12 goals in 36 appearances for the club after putting pen to paper, before scoring seven in 15 for the Gunners last term before being famously dropped by Arteta.

He then turned heads by scoring 13 goals in 24 games for Barcelona, but were Arsenal grieving the loss of such goals? Not quite.

In the 37 Premier League games after Aubameyang penned his contract in 2020/21, the Gunners earned 58 points in 37 games, averaging 1.57 points per game (PPG)

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They also scored 52 goals in 37 games, averaging 1.4 goals per game (GPG) with Aubameyang on board.

The striker played 15 Premier League games for Arsenal in 2021/22 before being dropped by Arteta, with the Gunners picking up 23 points (1.53 PPG) and scoring 18 goals (1.2 GPG).

After he left, those numbers rose quite significantly.

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In the 23 Premier League games following Aubameyang's exit, Arsenal picked up 46 points and scored 43 goals.

That equates to 2 PPG and 1.87 GPG, a significant rise on what had been seen with their former skipper involved.

At the end of last season, Arsenal were able to strengthen their squad with the likes of new signings Fabio Vieira, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus.

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The Brazilian striker has bagged five goals and seven assists since joining from Manchester City, while Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka have also kicked on as part of one of the Premier League's most exciting attacking lines.

Focused on teamwork as opposed to individual plaudits, Arsenal have racked up 31 points in 12 games, scoring 30 goals in the process.

That has seen their PPG rocket to 2.58, while their average GPG is now 2.5, more than double what it was during Aubameyang's final stretch of games in the red and white.

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There is no doubting that Arsenal will be wary of the threat Aubameyang will offer at Stamford Bridge when the striker meets his old club on Sunday.

But, given just how effective Arteta's side has been since the striker's departure, they'll no doubt be more focused on causing a few problems of their own against their London rivals.