Mikel Arteta’s call to strip Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of the Arsenal captaincy scared other players

Mohamed Elneny alleges Arsenal’s players feared queuing over Mikel Arteta’s decision to strip Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from the captaincy.

But the midfielder believes a refusal to allow “big egos” is now the secret of Arteta’s foosball squad.

Aubameyang joined Barcelona for free in January after being banned by Arteta, but the striker will face Arsenal on Sunday following his summer move to Chelsea.

Mohamed Elneny claims Arsenal players were afraid to queue over Mikel Arteta’s bold decision

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was stripped of his captaincy before being banned by boss Arteta

Elneny believes the manager has firmly stamped his authority on taking a tough approach as it made other players wary: “If someone is not the captain of the team, makes a small mistake, they will have the same problem,” said he. .

Arteta has overseen a relentless revamp of his squad, with Aubameyang, one of the senior players, being culled in favor of a younger, more united squad.

“We don’t allow big egos. This is the dressing room we have now,” Elneny said.

Elneny believes the manager has firmly stamped his authority by taking a tough approach

‘Everyone loves each other and everyone works for each other. This is what actually makes our team very strong, because we don’t have any egos in the team.’

Arteta kept a ‘catalogue’ of Aubameyang’s ‘crimes’ as evidence in the dispute that ultimately cost him the captaincy – and his future.

The striker was banned after returning late from an arranged trip to France. He was forced to train alone and then was stripped of the armband.

The saga was exposed in Amazon’s documentary, in which Elneny was heard saying Arteta showed “balls” to discipline Aubameyang.

After Thursday’s win over Zurich, the midfielder claimed that this was when the manager established himself with the squad.

“100 percent,” Elneny said. “Now everyone looked at themselves, because Mikel did that to the captain of the team.

‘What is he going to do with another player? It showed that we can’t play now, now we have to be calm with the team and as the team goes, we have to stay with the team, not do anything else.”

The 30-year-old hasn’t changed his mind after looking back. “Because we agree with what Mikel has decided, because he’s our boss and we just need to agree on what his vision is for (us),” he said.

There were concerns that Arsenal’s season could fail without Aubameyang. But Elneny believes it brought everyone closer together: ‘Now everyone was scared! Everyone is afraid of their position because this happened to Aubameyang.’

That fear has not translated to the pitch, where the young Arsenal side have made an unlikely leap to the top of the Premier League. Sunday’s trip to Chelsea is another test of a team that, according to Elneny, is now aiming for the title.

Arsenal’s young side are at the top of the Premier League ahead of Sunday’s trip to Chelsea

“We know what we’re going to do there because now we know we’re looking for the title,” he said.

“Now we have something to argue for. We just push every day. We know we have a good team, we have good staff and Mikel really makes us feel like we are a very strong team now. And we just believe every day that we can do something special this year.’

Elneny added: “We have to put Arsenal in the place they actually deserve. This is what we play for.’

The Gunners are two points ahead of Manchester City and ten points ahead of Chelsea in sixth place.

Striker Aubameyang faces his former club for the first time since his departure in January

Aubameyang has scored three goals for Graham Potter’s side, but Elneny would not be drawn to the striker’s move to Arsenal’s London rivals, insisting they ‘just focus on ourselves for now’. But he was full of praise for Arsenal’s new skipper, Martin Odegaard.

“We love Martin so much. Everyone’s just glad he’s our captain,’ Elneny said.

“We support him and we make it easy for him. He’s a really good player on the pitch and off it he’s very important to us.” ENDS