Sokratis Papastathopoulos believes it is not important who wears the captain’s armband at Arsenal as the fall-out from Granit Xhaka being stripped of the honour continues.
Gunners head coach Unai Emery opted to relieve Xhaka of his duties after the Switzerland midfielder told supporters to “f*** off” as they jeered him following his substitution in a recent draw with Crystal Palace.
The club initially rallied around their skipper and insisted they would offer counselling and other support mechanisms as Emery said Xhaka was “devastated, sad and very down”.
“The captaincy or who has this (signals to the armband) on the pitch, I don’t think it’s very important,” the Greece international said.
“It’s important that all the team is good in the dressing room. We are like a family. In the end who brings the pitch the captaincy is the last thing.”
Asked what Aubameyang was like as a leader, Sokratis added: “I don’t know, I think it’s the first time he is a captain.
“For me it’s more important that Auba first has to score, he has to do his work.
“He’s a very good guy. But I already said something – who has the captaincy is not very important.”
They travel to in-form Leicester, who are currently third in the table and six points clear of fifth-placed Arsenal as Sokratis admits – even at this stage of the season – it will be an important evening for the visitors.
“It’s a very big game, it’s a game we have to win,” he said.
“Of course we have a lot of games in front and if we see last year we were there but in the last seven games, we didn’t win one.
“The other teams were six, seven points behind us but in the end they were in front. We need to be consistent all year, not only one month.
“Leicester is in a very good moment, they’re a very hungry team. You can see this. We have to be ready to beat them.”
