Former Aston Villa skipper Gabriel Agbonlahor has warned Chelsea striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang that he may regret comments he made about Arsenal ahead of the Chelsea vs Arsenal clash this weekend.

Agbonlahor said on talkSPORT: “I was a bit baffled when I saw it. I am surprised.

“I feel BT Sport would have been buzzing with getting him to say those words because it adds more spice to the game, more viewers of course. But very strange, I don’t think you need to do that.

“I can imagine the media officer at Chelsea asked ‘do you want to do this?’ and he’s probably said ‘yeah’. I’d have never done it, no.

“Because these things seem to work against you. It wouldn’t surprise me now if he came on and missed a sitter and Arsenal go and win, and you think why did you have to do that?

“The respect he should have for Arsenal, yes he fell out with Arteta but the fans loved Aubameyang. So I think it’s a silly thing to do and he could regret that.”

Agbonlahor believes Arteta will use Aubameyang’s message as motivation for his players. He added: “Arteta is probably saying to his defenders, Gabriel and William Saliba, ‘Watch that, he said he’s back and he’s going to have a good game against you, so forget about being friends with him, you stop him’.

“’If you have to kick him, kick him – do what you have to do to stop Aubameyang’.”

What did Aubameyang really say?

In a BT Sport advert for the Chelsea vs Arsenal clash this weekend, Aubameyang said: “Arsenal, nothing personal. I’m back, I’m blue, I’m ready.”