Arsenal fans have a wild Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang theory after spotting him 'laughing' with Bernd Leno

Arsenal fans are convinced Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang joined Chelsea as a 'double agent' after spotting him laughing and smiling with former teammate Bernd Leno.

Chelsea's season went from bad to worse on Thursday evening, slumping to a 2-1 defeat against bitter London rivals Fulham.

Goals from Willian and Carlos Vinicius were enough to condemn Graham Potter's side to a seventh Premier League defeat of the season despite Kalidou Koulibaly's equaliser.

New signing Joao Felix was sent off on his debut for a nasty challenge on Kenny Tete. Felix joined Chelsea on loan from Atletico Madrid for the rest of the season earlier this week.

Watching all this unfold from the bench was Aubameyang, who joined Chelsea from Barcelona during the summer. The ex-Gabon international moved to Stamford Bridge thanks to his strong relationship with Thomas Tuchel, who he worked with at Borussia Dortmund.

Tuchel was sacked and replaced by Potter in September, who already seems to have indicated Aubameyang isn't in his long-term plans.

Aubameyang was left on the bench at Craven Cottage even after Felix's dismissal. At full-time, he came onto the pitch to chat with Fulham goalkeeper Leno.

The duo spent three years together at the Emirates Stadium, winning the FA Cup and Community Shield. It's only natural they'd want to catch up now Aubameyang is back in England.

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Supporters on social media are convinced something else is going on. They've joked Aubameyang is an 'agent' deployed to take Chelsea down as far as they can.

One person said: "Double agents cheering one another on after a successful assignment."

Another commented: "Arsenal legends right here."

Someone put: "These two need to keep cooking I love it."

While another tweeted: "Lmao you couldn't write this at all."

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Potter explained why he didn't bring Aubameyang on in his post-match press conference. He pointed to the width Hakim Ziyech and Carney Chukwuemeka could offer, while praising Kai Havertz's performance up front.

"We had a back five and felt we should go to a 4-4-1 and keep Kai on because I felt he was leading the line and winning challenges and duels," Potter said.

"We wanted to use Hakim and Carney to break from wide and Conor [Gallagher] to break from the centre because you know you’re going to get driven back a bit. So that was the thinking."