Mikel Arteta has revealed that the rest of his Arsenal squad fully supports his decision to strip Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of the captaincy.
The Gunners boss dropped his striker for the Premier League win at Southampton last weekend for a 'disciplinary breach' - his second breach this year following his late arrival and subsequent omission from the starting team against Tottenham last March.
The Gabon international has also been dropped for the match against West Ham tomorrow night and his manager admitted ahead of the game that taking the captain's armband from him was not an easy decision.
"Yes, we did it both with the club and face to face with the player. He had to accept the decision," said Arteta.
"What I can say right now is that we have made this decision which unfortunately is a tough one.
"If I had to choose I wouldn’t like to be sitting here talking about that. The next one is that he’s not involved in the squad.
"We need a bit of time. He needs a bit of time to heal. For now, he’s not involved in the squad."
Aubameyang's behaviour and drop in standards has been widely criticised by former Arsenal players like Paul Merson and Martin Keown as well as ex-pros - Alan Shearer and Pat Nevin.
Arteta insists that the rest of his squad are committed to the standards in discipline he has introduced since taking charge at the club and have no complaints about his decision over their team-mate.
"Well, they accepted the decision and I think they know because they have committed to it," said Arteta.
"They have demanded that we want to take our culture, our demands and who do we want to be as a club and how do we want to represent this football club to a different level and when those standard are not met you know that you can not participate in our daily basics."
The former Manchester City assistant would not confirm which player will take over the captain's duties for the rest of the season.
"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(zette) and we have Granit (Xhaka) as well who has been captain so we will follow that," said Arteta.
"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 then with the club in a really clear and strong way."
