Arsenal forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang planned special celebration against Man Utd after FA Cup loss
Aubameyang is the latest player to admit that Arsenal used Jesse Lingard's celebrations as an additional source of motivation
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Your support makes all the difference.Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is the latest player to admit that Arsenal were especially motivated to beat Manchester United after Jesse Lingard’s dancing in January, revealing that he had planned a special celebration of his own on Sunday only to lose his superhero mask.
Lingard declared the Emirates Stadium was his ‘dancefloor’ after scoring in a 3-1 FA Cup fourth round victory over Arsenal in January, celebrating his goal by moonwalking in front of the home supporters.
The 26-year-old England international missed out on Sunday’s match due to injury, but his antics two months ago nevertheless appeared to provide Arsenal’s players with an additional source of motivation.
Mesut Ozil was quick to reference Lingard in a post-match tweet on Sunday evening, writing: “Dancefloor huh?! Superb performance! Brilliant result! Thank you Emirates Stadium! Proud to be a Gunner!” Bernd Leno meanwhile admitted that Lingard’s antics had helped to spur on the hosts, commenting: “You don't want to see it again, so we were motivated.”
And Aubameyang, who scored a second-half penalty to help end Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's unbeaten Premier League streak, admitted after the match that he even had a special celebration planned in response to Arsenal’s FA Cup defeat earlier this season.
When asked whether that loss and Lingard’s celebration had helped to motivate Arsenal, he replied: “Yes of course. I actually had a special celebration planned for this game tonight, but I could not find my mask! But no worries. We are happy because the most important thing is the three points. And it is a really, really good feeling.
“[The mask] was in the back of the net but I couldn’t find it after I scored. I said something to the staff to put the mask there but I couldn’t find it. So next time.”
Aubameyang bounced back from his north London derby disappointment to score his 17th goal of the season on Sunday. He is now level on goals with Harry Kane and Mohamed Salah, and just one behind current leading scorer Sergio Aguero.
The 29-year-old missed a last minute penalty against Spurs at Wembley but was undeterred from taking a second-half spot kick against United, confidently sending David de Gea the wrong way to secure all three points.
Alexandre Lacazette won the penalty after being shoved in the back by United midfielder Fred, and Aubameyang has said the France international immediately urged him to take the penalty.
“We do not care about who is shooting the penalty, the most important thing is to score,” Aubameyang said. “But after Lacazette got the penalty he said to me: ‘You have to shoot.’ I felt very well and I was ready to score.
“Our friendship is really, really strong and straight after he fell down, he watched me and said: ‘You shoot. You have to be focused and you shoot.’ So it is a great partnership.
“I watched it a lot, the penalty I missed. And I knew that I made a mistake when I shot last week. But in life you always have to look forwards and I had to be focused and that’s what I was.”
The 2-0 victory lifts Arsenal back into the top four, with north London rivals Tottenham now just one point ahead of them in third. And Aubameyang has said that the Arsenal dressing room now believes that they have their fate “in their own hands”.
“We know that it will be tough but we want to do something,” he added. “We want to get back into the Champions League. We are really hungry.
“When you see it on the TV and you hear the music it is something special. So yes, we have to carry on winning games to be in the top four.”
When asked whether he believes Arsenal have to qualify for the Champions League for their season to be considered a success, he replied: “Yeah I think we have to. That’s the goal since the beginning of the season. Yeah we know that we have two ways to do it and the Premier League is the first and most important way. And then we have the Europa League. But we have to turn that game around on Thursday.”
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