Why Auba is the new Robert Pires

Text and graphic from Oulala

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has found the back of the net four times in four appearances against Tottenham, averaging a goal every 88 minutes. An impressive record in itself, however when measured against a number of Arsenal’s best scorers in the Premier League era, stats from daily fantasy football game Oulala.com show Aubameyang is better than anyone when it comes to facing the enemy!

Having faced Spurs twice for Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League group stages of this season’s competition, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang failed to find the back of the net at Wembley. Although the 28-year-old did score at Signal Iduna Park. It was his fourth goal against Tottenham in as many games after netting three times against them in the last 16 of the Europa league in 2015/16, twice at White Hart Lane and once in Germany.
It’s a goalscoring record that will excite Arsenal fans going into this weekend’s north London derby at Wembley following a debut goal from Aubameyang in Arsenal’s 5-1 demolition of Everton last week.

Averaging a goal every 88 minutes, Aubameyang’s impressive record against Spurs eclipses a number of former Arsenal goalscoring greats including Robin van Persie, Thierry Henry, Emmanuel Adebayor and Robert Pires.

The last Arsenal player to win the Premier League’s golden boot, Robin van Persie, netted 30 goals in 38 appearances in 2011/12, averaging a goal every 111 minutes. However, the Dutchman’s record against Spurs failed to match those figures. In 18 appearances against Tottenham, van Persie found the back of the net six times, five for Arsenal and once for United, an average of a goal every 195 minutes.
Arsenal’s all-time record goalscorer, Thierry Henry, scored 228 goals in 377 appearances for the club, averaging a goal every 132 minutes. In 11 appearances against Spurs, the Frenchman’s minutes per goal average dropped to a goal every 179 minutes for each of the five he scored against them.

The north London derby’s overall top scorer in the Premier League era is Emmanuel Adebayor with eight goals, however having played for both clubs, the Togolese international is far from being labelled a legendary figure in either side of north London. Having also faced Tottenham for Real Madrid (twice), Manchester City (3 times) and Crystal Palace (once), Adebayor netted a total of 10 goals in 15 appearances against Spurs (eight for Arsenal & two for Madrid), boasting a record of a goal every 115 minutes.

Robert Pires’ record against Tottenham made the Frenchman somewhat of a legend at Arsenal. He scored more goals (5) than any other player (Arsenal or Spurs) in Premier League north London derbies at White Hart Lane. Additionally, Pires never lost a north London derby, although it took a 16 minutes cameo for Aston Villa against Tottenham to ruin that record. Pires’ eight goals in 13 appearances against Spurs came at an exceptional average of a goal every 113 minutes.

Tottenham fans will be quick to remind Gunners of Harry Kane’s record against Arsenal which has seen him net six goals in seven appearances. However at an average of a goal every 100 minutes, it’s no match for Aubameyang’s average of 88 minutes per goal against Spurs.

3 Replies to “Why Auba is the new Robert Pires”

  1. If I remember correctly Charlie Nicholas had a pretty good record against the spuds.

    I may be wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time.

  2. This particular NLD Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal on Saturday will for the first time be played at a neutral ground i.e. the Wembley Stadium where coincidentally Arsenal have been winning games upon games there of late. And I believe this Wembley winning habit by the Gunners will continue unabated on Saturday and is the key that will tip the winning balance in this match to the favour of Arsenal to the disfavour of Tottenham Hotspur irrespective of whatever be the kind of attacking game they will play against Arsenal in the match. It is even not only the revamping of Arsenal attacking option during the last winter window which Mauricio Pochettino, the Spurs manager doesn’t seem to respect that will only be the tipping edge to Arsenal winning this match, but the Gunners 4 seasons winning run at Wembley in all competitions will be an added boost to them to kill off any resistant by Spurs in the game being spearheaded mainly by Harry Kane led attack team to hurt Arsenal during the match. In fact, if the Gunners play to their full potential in all aspects of the game in this match, I suspect Arsenal will overrun Tottenham Hotspur 0-4 within the first 15 minutes of the match. And if this comes to pass as I believe it definitely will, all that will be left in the game for Arsenal to do will be to put up an impregnable defending in the match to hold their fort tightly not allowing Spurs to breach it come whatever game Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Heung-min Son and other Spurs will play to do that on Saturday.

  3. Pierre is da ting! We win, he scores.

    He has that thing, I have, CR7, Alexis had, Ramos has, Henry, it’s quite rare, but if you give us the bare essentials, we will win, by shere willpower!

    It’s a cool thing to have in your locker, as long as you have most of what you need, you know you win, every time you win, it gets stronger, because you begin to know where it kicks in, what provokes it, an drew just how little you can have and still succeed.

    Ronnie O’Sullivan has it, but also that flawed maverick genius.

    You just know, you are too good at what you do, forget what they’d do.

    Never mind panic buying, this Ian panic reporting! Fan the flames.

    Even fickle Arsenal fans aren’t the at stupid, pretty quiet on that front suddenly.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *