A few minutes ago, the Gunners announced that Aubameyang would no longer be club captain and that the forward will not be considered for selection against West Ham on Wednesday night.

Aubameyang was axed from Saturday’s Premier League 3-0 win over Southampton for what manager Mikel Arteta said was a “disciplinary breach”, which reportedly concerned a late return from an approved trip abroad last week.

The Gabonese striker had travelled back to France last week Wednesday to go collect his sick mum and bring her back to England.  He took to Instagram last week thanking fans for offering support. He wrote: ‘My mother is going through some health issues and I had to be there for her. She’s already much better now… I’m more than grateful to the doctors and nurses helping her get through this.’

However, it had been agreed that Aubameyang would return later that evening to ensure he would be ready to train on Thursday. But he reportedly flew home on Thursday morning instead and current Covid testing protocols also meant that he was unable to return to training until he had produced a negative PCR test.

The club then made a decision today to strip Aubameyang of the Arsenal captaincy.

Arsenal’s statement on Tuesday morning, December 14 said: “Following his latest disciplinary breach last week, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will no longer be our club captain, and will not be considered for selection for Wednesday’s match against West Ham United. We expect all our players, particularly our captain, to work to the rules and standards we have all set and agreed. We are fully focused on tomorrow’s match.”

Arteta later faced the media just hours after the decision on Aubameyang was announced, and revealed he will not appoint a full-time successor to the 32-year-old striker as captain just yet.

He said: “Well we have the leadership group and we think that we have different players that are nominated to be captain in the last game it was Laca and we have Granit [Xhaka] as well who has been captain so we will follow that. Obviously, it is a really unpleasant situation and it is not the moment to make any rash decision. That leadership group is really strong, it is the one that communicates with myself and the coaching staff and with the club in a really clear and strong way. We are going to continue like that and that is one of the decisions that we made, to make that group a little bit better and try to educate them and try and get the right feedback all the time and build that trust and the strong culture around the club. It is working really well so we will continue to do that.”

Recall the Gabon international was left out of the squad against Southampton due to a disciplinary breach over the weekend and could now have the skipper’s armband taken off him.

The Athletic claims the striker was given permission to fly abroad for personal reasons but arrived back late and due to Covid-19 protocols, he missed training on Friday and was dropped for the 3-0 victory over the Saints on Saturday.

Aubameyang’s captaincy is hanging by a thread, never mind his future at the Emirates, and the general consensus is that he should be stripped of the armband.

Former Gunners hero Martin Keown said: “The captaincy is in question now. You can’t keep being late or disappearing on trips abroad and not coming back on time, your team needs you and he’s not there when you need him most so I expect that to change.”

Arteta refused to discuss whether he would demote the forward and look to appoint a new skipper, but it’s a genuine possibility that Arsenal could have a new club captain.

The Spaniard said: “He had a disciplinary breach, that applies to everybody. That’s a non-negotiable and when that happens he’s out of the team. Whatever happens in the dressing room, I cannot share. I am sorry.

“I’m telling you the reason, I cannot lie, it was that this is where I stand. From my side, I will never [say what the breach was.]”

While there is no standout candidate to take the armband off Aubameyang at the moment, three stars have been listed as the potential candidates.

According to The Athletic, Aaron Ramsdale, Ben White and Gabriel have all stepped up to become leaders to fill the void left by David Luiz who left the club at the end of last season.

The publication believes Arteta has unearthed Ramsdale, White, and Gabriel as his new leaders – making them the three leading picks to replace Aubameyang as skipper.

New signing Gabriel Magalhaes grabbed a debut goal and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored a stunner in Saturday season’s opener, while former Chelsea winger Willian provided a pair of assists on his debut, just 48 days after the last season ended.

Arsenal’s free-flowing attack was too much for promoted Fulham as Lacazette gave the visitors an early lead. Brazilian defender, Gabriel, scored Arsenal’s second after the break-in his first appearance since joining from Lille.

Aubameyang then added the final flourish with a typically eye-catching strike.