Was it really helpful to get Aubameyang out of the squad in December?

By Sir Hardly Anyone

Aubameyang made his final appearance for Arsenal on 6 December 2021 for the away game at Everton, which Arsenal lost, 2-1.

Arsenal at this point were seventh in the league – with none of the games in hand that were subsequently to become our hallmark.   We were four points behind West Ham in fourth, having a goal difference of minus 4.   In rough and ready terms Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea had all scored around twice as many goals as Arsenal – and that after just 15 games!

Here is the league table for 6 December 2021.

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Manchester City	15	11	2	2	32	9	23	35
2	Liverpool	15	10	4	1	44	12	32	34
3	Chelsea	15	10	3	2	35	9	26	33
4	West Ham United	15	8	3	4	28	19	9	27
5	Tottenham Hotspur	14	8	1	5	16	17	-1	25
6	Manchester United	15	7	3	5	25	24	1	24
7	Arsenal	15	7	2	6	18	22	-4	23

Our last four matches resulting in the table as shown above, were three defeats and one victory – that one victory being over Newcastle who at the time were very firmly at the foot of the table with not one single win in the league after playing 13 games.  Here are those last four games (readers of a nervous disposition may like to skip this chart.)

Date	Match	Res	Score
20 Nov 2021	Liverpool v Arsenal	L	4-0
27 Nov 2021	Arsenal v Newcastle United	W	2-0
02 Dec 2021	Manchester United v Arsenal	L	3-2
06 Dec 2021	Everton v Arsenal	L	2-1

Then, with Aubameyang on the sidelines Arsenal went on a bit of a run in terms of league games.

Date	Match	Res	Score
11 Dec 2021	Arsenal v Southampton	W	3-0
15 Dec 2021	Arsenal v West Ham United	W	2-0
18 Dec 2021	Leeds United v Arsenal	W	1-4
26 Dec 2021	Norwich City v Arsenal	W	0-5
1 Jan 2022	Arsenal v Manchester City	L	1-2
23 Jan 2022	Arsenal v Burnley	D	0-0
10 Feb 2022	Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal	W	0-1
19 Feb 2022	Arsenal v Brentford	W	2-1
24 Feb 2022	Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers	W	2-1
06 Mar 2022	Watford v Arsenal	W	2-3

Now, much was made at point of Auba’s departure as to how we were letting go our most expensive player, and getting nothing in return – except we were saving money on his salary which was quoted as being of astronomical proportions.

But let’s compare the table when Aubameyang left and now.

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
7	AFC with Auba	15	7	2	6	18	22	-4	23
4	AFC today	25	15	3	7	41	29	12	48
+3	Difference	10	8	1	1	23	7	+16	25

In fact we got more points in the 10 games without Aubameyang in the squad than we got in the 15 games with him in the squad.

But where does that leave us in terms of the value of the squad?

The website Transfermarkt.co.uk gives a value for members of the current squad of each of the 20 Premier League clubs.  It shows that Manchester City has the most valuable squad, followed by Liverpool in second place.

This accords of course exactly with the position of the two clubs in the league.  But does that mean that bringing in ever more valuable players will bring success on the pitch?  Certainly not in the case of Aubameyang, but let’s look in a little more detail.

To work that out I thought it might be interesting to compare the current value of the top clubs with the number of points so far earned in the league to get a cost per point and thus work out an efficiency level.

Pos	Club	League points	Current value	£m per point	Efficiency
1	Manchester City	69	£892.17m	£12.93m	6
2	Liverpool	63	£800.10m	£12.70m	5
3	Chelsea	53	£794.70m	£14.99m	9
4	Manchester United	48	£711.23m	£14.81m	8
5	Tottenham Hotspur	45	£522.23m	£11.61m	3
6	Leicester City	33	£462.42m	£14.01m	7
7	Arsenal	48	£459.90m	£9.58m	2
8	Everton	22	£408.38m	£18.56m	10
9	Aston Villa	33	£383.85m	£11.63m	4
10	West Ham United	45	£315.68m	£7m	1

The “Efficiency Level” is of course just my invention, but it looks at the value of the squad according to Transfermarkt against the number of points gained.   West Ham spent the least amount per point gained, while Everton who are crashing downward, the most.  (The chart does not include last night’s match).

Thus Arsenal are the second most cost-effective club in the top half of the league – and that is without taking into account the fact that we still have between one and three games in hand of the clubs around us.

So for all those wild ravings in the media about how Arsenal always waste money, we are absolutely not doing that when compared with our results and other clubs.  Auba may have gone for nothing, but our results since he left have improved, so it was a good move.

• Across the last quarter of the season, Arsenal are top of the Premier League