Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang only had EIGHT touches in shocking reunion with Arsenal

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang endured a horror afternoon at Stamford Bridge on Sunday - enjoying just eight touches before being hooked just after the hour mark.

The Gabonese forward left Arsenal in January under a shroud of acrimony stemming from a number of disciplinary issues, mostly relating to his punctuality.

In what was billed as Aubameyang's opportunity for revenge over Mikel Arteta - the decision maker behind the call to let him go to Barcelona - and Arsenal soon turned into an afternoon to forget as the Gunners dominated all areas of the game to return to the top of the league.

Having taken part in a BT Sport promotional video during the week - telling Arsenal that it was 'nothing personal' - the former club captain would have hoped that he could have laid more of a glove on his ex-side.

Up against the second best defence in the league, Aubameyang struggled for space against William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes while when he did get into space his team-mates struggled to find his runs.

Such was his lack of threat that Gabriel himself after the game flipped Aubameyang's pre-match jibe that it was 'nothing personal' back onto him. It would not suggest they are fearful of his presence at the Emirates in the new year.

Aubameyang's replacement, Gabriel Jesus, enjoyed a typically energetic and impactful afternoon with the stats illustrating perhaps why Arsenal sit top of the league with him in the side.

Jesus had 63 touches to Aubameyang's eight while he also won 11 duels to the Chelsea forward's zero.

The Brazilian, who is set to be named in Tite's squad for the World Cup which begins this month, also completed three dribbles, one of which led to a golden opportunity which Martin Odegaard squandered. Aubameyang had zero dribbles completed.

Key, as ever, to Arsenal's build up Jesus had 24 passes attempted with 18 of them completed. Of Aubameyang's eight touches, five were attempted passes - only three were successful.

Speaking after the game Scott Parker, himself a former Chelsea player, suggested the performance of Aubameyang would have told Arteta that they were right to get rid of him.

The only metric Aubameyang won out in over Jesus was yellow cards from one to zero.

Speaking after the game Scott Parker, himself a former Chelsea player, suggested the performance of Aubameyang would have told Arteta that they were right to get rid of him.

Aubameyang's departure was largely linked to various disciplinary failings.

'Discipline in terms of a group of 30 men, in terms of what they currently are and where they stand, it’s important there’s a line,' he said.

'I don't think anything in football is ever personal, these decisions are happening constantly on how you see best to fit the team

'Mikel made a decision, at this moment in time is proven that it was the right one, he’s gone on and they’ve kicked on a little bit.

'These are decisions that managers constantly have to constantly make.

'Top managers make big decisions, sometimes they're ruthless, sometimes at certain moments you get them wrong, but ultimately you go with your gut feeling, you experiences and what you believe is going to be best for the club and team. No doubt that's what Mikel has done.'