Arsene Wenger believes Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will be “much sharper” in the Carabao Cup final, having not featured for Arsenal in a fortnight.
Arsenal’s record-signing made a quick start to life at the club following his Deadline Day move from Borussia Dortmund, scoring on his home debut against Everton before struggling in the 1-0 defeat to north London rivals Tottenham.
Aubameyang is ineligible to play in the Europa League so has not featured since tasting defeat against Spurs, but Wenger expects the Gabon international to return to form against Manchester City on Sunday.
“He has only played twice but on the other hand when he came here he had not played for a while,” said Wenger. “He was not at his best physically and we took advantage of the last two weeks to build him up physically.
While Wenger feels Aubameyang has benefitted physically from his rest, he conceded that a lack of understanding with his Arsenal team-mates could still cause a problem.
“It’s not ideal,” he added. “But I think his great strengths are his finishing, the quality of his runs and his pace, of course.
“Our target on Sunday will be to find him two or three times each half in dangerous positions because he is sharp now.
“The handicap is that we have not played a lot with him but his runs are so clever that I think we have players who can find him.”
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