Unai Emery has explained that Arsenal decided two weeks in advance that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang would have his sinus procedure this Wednesday, as they couldn’t wait any longer.

Aubameyang has been having sinus problems for a few weeks now, reportedly dating back all the way to the Newcastle game at the start of the month. He struggled through them to feature in six matches, scoring twice and assisting once, but Unai Emery says they knew they couldn’t wait any longer to act.

“We were waiting but then the doctor told us we needed to be as quick as possible for him,” explained Emery. “We decided two weeks ago to do it for Wednesday. Otherwise, it would have had to be for this game on Sunday. It was not possible for him to miss the match against Valencia, or Brighton – it was not possible.

“We also decided not to do it against Crystal Palace or Napoli. But the doctor said to do it as quickly as possible because he needed it done. We decided this match was the best in those weeks.”

Though Arsenal ended up losing the match against Wolves, it was still probably the right decision to have him miss that game over Napoli or Crystal Palace.

Even with a fully fit squad, getting a result away to this Wolves team would be a struggle, so better to have Aubameyang available for the crucial Europa League tie and a match the team had a better chance of winning against Palace. Unfortunately, that gamble didn’t quite pay off, as Palace won anyway.

Emery seems optimistic that his star striker will be available to face Leicester City on Sunday though, saying on Friday: “He trained today and, if he can train tomorrow, I think we can think he’s ready for Sunday. If he can train normally tomorrow, it’s a possibility.”

Aubameyang was involved in training on Saturday as normal, so hopefully, he’ll be ready to start.