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Calum Chambers: 'Arsenal cannot keep relying on Aubameyang'

The Gunners striker hit his seventh goal in as many games this season against Aston Villa.

Calum Chambers admits Arsenal cannot continue to rely on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's goals.

The Gunners striker hit his seventh goal in as many games this season as his late free-kick earned Unai Emery's side a 3-2 victory over Aston Villa on Sunday.

Aubameyang has played every minute of every game so far this campaign, with the goalscoring burden increased when fellow forward Alexandre Lacazette was sidelined with an ankle injury.

Aubameyang notched the winner for Arsenal
Aubameyang notched the winner for Arsenal (Steven Paston/PA)

At the other end of the pitch, Arsenal's defence has managed just one clean sheet in their last 11 Premier League games – a run spanning across the end of the last campaign and continuing into this one.

They fell behind to a John McGinn goal at the Emirates Stadium, with Ainsley Maitland-Niles' red card before half-time only making a potential comeback harder for Arsenal.

But Nicolas Pepe's penalty – his first goal for the club – drew them level only for Wesley to put the visitors back in front 89 seconds later.

Chambers, who replaced Bukayo Saka at the interval, would then level for a second time before Aubameyang's 84th-minute free-kick secured the points.

Asked if there was an acceptance that Arsenal cannot keep relying on the Gabon international, Chambers replied: "Of course.

"We know as a team and we know as a defensive unit that we have to be solid. That we have to shut the door and be stronger.

"But when you have players like that obviously it does help as well. We're working every day in training and working on what we need to do and we'll just keep going.

"Aubameyang's very key. He's a quality striker and a lot of the players on this team are quality, so to have him at the top of the team, scoring the goals is brilliant for us."

While Aubameyang's goals are a regular occurrence, the 30-year-old having scored 16 goals in his last 16 games, Chambers – who spent last season on loan at Fulham – had not hit the back of the net for Arsenal since August 2016 and felt he owed it to his team-mates after shouldering the blame for Villa's second goal.

"It is my first goal for a while and it is always nice to get it," he added.

"I felt like I needed to do something after their second goal and to get a goal myself was quite nice.

"I have said it (Villa's goal) came from me, my touch was poor. It sort of started from me so I felt like I had to get my head right and bring something back, and bring the team back into it. Luckily I did that."

The defeat leaves Villa in the bottom three having taken four points from their first six games back in the top-flight.

Tyrone Mings, whose error led to Chambers' equaliser, bemoaned a lack of ruthlessness from Dean Smith's side once they had taken the lead in north London.

"We were good at times on Sunday," he told the club's official website.

"But it feels like when we go ahead a bit of desperation creeps in. Instead, we should be tying to get another goal and really being ruthless.

"I don't know what it is at the moment, but it's something we need to change. It might be a mentality thing."

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Arsenal manager Unai Emery gestures during the match against Aston Villa on September 22, 2019
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Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool18143145172845
2Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest1911442619737
3Arsenal18106235161936
4Chelsea19105438231535
5Newcastle UnitedNewcastle1995532211132
6Manchester CityMan City199463226631
7Bournemouth198652923630
8Fulham197842825329
9Aston Villa198562831-329
10Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton196942928127
11Tottenham HotspurSpurs1973941281324
12Brentford187383232024
13West Ham UnitedWest Ham196582335-1223
14Manchester UnitedMan Utd196492126-522
15Crystal Palace194872027-720
16Everton183871524-917
17Wolverhampton WanderersWolves1944113142-1116
18Ipswich TownIpswich1936101833-1515
19Leicester CityLeicester1935112242-2014
20Southampton1913151239-276


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