Aubameyang was omitted of the squad for Saturday’s match facing Southampton, and Arsenal vouched their decision to remove the forward as captain on Tuesday.
The club also stated Aubameyang will not be available for selection versus West Ham on Wednesday.
“We expect all our players, particularly our captain, to work to the rules and standards we have all set and agreed,” the club stated.
“We are fully focused on tomorrow’s match.”
Mikel Arteta voiced that the “painful” decision had been made to “defend the interests of the football club.”
He vouched that both he and senior club officials had held one-on-one conversations with Aubameyang to notify him of their decision.
“I think it’s a really clear statement from the club,” Arteta stated during his pre-match press conference on Tuesday. “It’s a decision that we’ve made following the last incident that we had with the player and this is where we stand.”
“When we have to make that decision, obviously it’s because that’s the right one to defend the interests of the football club.”
“It’s been a lot to digest and a really difficult decision to make, so we need a bit of time.”
“To make the decision that we made is because it was really hurting and it’s still like this and it needs a little bit of time to heal, so for now, again, he’s not involved in the squad.”
Arteta recommended that there would be no hurry to recruit a permanent replacement for Aubameyang as captain, with members of the club’s “leadership group” to share the leadership in the coming weeks.
