Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang would get into Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’, Ray Parlour believes and stats suggest he would start ahead of Dennis Bergkamp

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is so good he’d get into Arsenal’s legendary Invincibles team, believes Ray Parlour.

The Gunners captain hasn’t been at his best this season, having scored just eight Premier League goals so far.

However, three of them came during Arsenal’s last outing as their star forward helped them get the better of Leeds at the Emirates Stadium.

It silences Aubameyang’s vocal critics, who suggested he dropped his intensity after committing his future to the club when he signed a bumper new contract.

But Parlour – a member of that all-conquering side in 2004 – never had any doubts about the 31-year-old and insisted he would have been a great addition to their squad, which saw them go the entire Premier League season unbeaten.

“One-on-ones he’s very good at, he doesn’t miss a lot,” he said.

“He went through that barren spell after signing a new contract but everyone goes through a bad spell and he proved against Leeds that he’s a top striker. Hopefully he can carry on until the end of the season.

“Certainly in our Invincibles team and our 2001/02 team he’d be a great addition. Even if he didn’t start the game, imagine bringing Aubameyang off the bench.

“We used to bring Sylvain Wiltord and Nwankwo Kanu, two great strikers, off the bench and Aubameyang would certainly be in that squad and probably play a lot of the games as well. He’s been a brilliant player for Arsenal.”

Would Aubameyang have got into Arsenal’s Invincibles side? talkSPORT doesn’t have a time machine to see if he could, but comparing Aubameyang‘s stats from last season with all of Arsenal’s forwards during that memorable campaign is possible.

The senior forwards who were on Arsenal’s books during that memorable season were Henry, Bergkamp, Wiltord, Kanu, and the late Jose Antonio Reyes.

Aubameyang’s stats from last season suggest that only Henry was better than him in the 2003/04 season. Not an embarrassment at all.

He played more than Bergkamp, Wiltord, Kanu and Reyes and boasts a higher rates for both goals per 90 minutes and goals and assists per 90 minutes rate than them.

The only area where Aubameyang struggles is assists per 90 minutes as Bergkamp, Kanu and Reyes all created more than his 0.17.

But would Aubameyang have actually made it into Arsene Wenger’s team back then?

He has been compared to Henry, partly because both are similar in that both got a lot of their goals by cutting in from the left.

However, stats by Transfermarkt show Arsenal played a 4-4-2 system in the vast majority of their league matches in 2003/04.

Aubameyang plays on the left of a front three most of the time so starting him ahead of Robert Pires could have been an option. However, Pires’ role was more as a left midfielder so would’ve had more defensive duties than Aubameyang is used to – not that you necessarily associate him with tracking back!

Another option could have been to play Aubameyang up top alongside Henry. He has more experience as a centre forward in his earlier days at Arsenal as well as when he was with Borussia Dortmund and Saint-Etienne.

Bergkamp was the Frenchman’s main strike partner, albeit playing a little deeper, but started just 21 league matches in 2003/04 as he approached the end of his career.

So having the option of Aubameyang, who boasts better stats than Reyes, Kanu and Wiltord would have made Arsenal even stronger.

Perhaps they could have stayed unbeaten in all competitions if Aubameyang was around…