The move comes after picking up his sick mom - leading to a "disciplinary breach".
Arsenal have stripped Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of the club captaincy after his "latest disciplinary breach".
The striker was dropped ahead of Arsenal's 3-0 Premier League win over Southampton after coming home from France a day later than agreed.
The former Arsenal captain was given permission to go abroad on Wednesday morning to collect his sick mom and bring her back to England.
However, it had been agreed that the striker would return later that evening to ensure he would be ready to train on Thursday.
The Athletic reported that Aubameyang breached the agreement and flew back to London on Thursday morning instead.
Current Covid testing protocols in England also meant that Aubameyang was unable to return to training until he had produced a negative PCR test.
As a result, Aubameyang was told not to report to London Colney for Arsenal's training session on Friday and was encouraged to train at home.
A club statement announcing the captaincy removal says: "We expect all our players, particularly our captain, to work to the rules and standards we have all set and agreed."
Aubameyang, 32, was also dropped for disciplinary reasons in March. On that occasion he missed the win over rivals Tottenham for a "breach of pre-match protocol".
Last Thursday Arteta said there was no desire to sell Aubameyang in January: "We have never discussed something like this. When players are having difficult periods what we have to give is support."
Since then, Aubameyang has been stripped of the captaincy and dropped from two Premier League matches. Having lost the captaincy and his place in the starting XI, there's every chance Aubameyang might want to leave and Arteta will not stand in his way next month.
Aubameyang, who joined Arsenal for £56m from Borussia Dortmund in 2018, signed a new three-year contract last year.
This season he has scored only four goals in 14 league games and none since 22 October.
Arsenal are sixth in the table, 12 points behind leaders Manchester City.
The Swift Kicks team debated this issue in the latest podcast episode. We've decided Arteta is not a douchebag for bringing down the disciplinary hammer on Aubameyang.. even though he was going to pick up his sick mom.
Here's how Arsenal Fan TV reacted: