Three days after one of the most memorable Emirates outings for Arsenal, when everything came together on the most joyous of occasions for Mikel Arteta, his players and the fans against Manchester City, the bubble was burst by Newcastle.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!It wasn’t particularly dramatic or even surprising – this just happens to Arsenal: a huge high is followed soon after by a depressing low.
Alexander Isak bullying William Saliba has significantly bolstered the Arsenal Need A Proper Striker narrative, which returns after an amusingly brief hiatus. But we’re far from convinced that the Gunners are just that one player away from winning the Premier League, or anything for that matter.
We think these five players will need upgrading in the summer for Arsenal to challenge Liverpool, or whichever other club(s) steal a march on them in the meantime.
Kai Havertz
You’ll have to imagine that like every pundit on TV and radio, we’re stretching our arms out and raising our eyebrows while insisting We Like Havertz As Much As The Next Guy before we pick him apart for not being good enough to lead the line for Arsenal.
We’re getting a little tired of the He’s Not A Striker caveat, because he bloody well is, just not a particularly good one. He was Germany’s striker at the Euros, played his best football for Chelsea as their No.9 and pretty quickly moved into that position at Arsenal because Arteta’s plan for him to replace Granit Xhaka was ill-advised and failed dramatically because actually, he’s not a midfielder.
He’s also definitely not a natural finisher and no number of goals between now and the end of the season for Havertz if he hits an unlikely hot streak should sway Arsenal from signing a goalscorer in the summer. Benjamin Sesko or Victor Osimhen for our money.
Gabriel Martinelli
No-one wants to see a footballer get injured, but we could almost sense the Arsenal fan fist-clenching in mini-celebrations at Ethan Nwaneri’s early introduction in place of Martinelli against Newcastle.
The teenager was unable to turn the Arsenal tanker cruising towards a limp and humbling defeat around at St James’ Park, but there was palpable anticipation and excitement when Nwaneri got on the ball, in stark contrast to Martinelli, who appears to have had most of the unpredictability and verve beaten out of him, with his football far more formulaic, and far less effective.
It’s impossible not to compare him with Bukayo Saka when they’re both fit given they were thought to be on a level a couple of seasons ago, and the England international now beats Martinelli hands down both in the eye test and on paper.
It will be very difficult to source a player good enough to balance the Arsenal attack on the left but not all hard to improve on Martinelli. Nico Williams would be a big step up.
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Mikel Merino
We were slightly confused by his signing at the time and are now utterly baffled. We wonder whether Merino and to a lesser extent Riccardo Calafiori were Edu’s late attempts to sabotage the good he had done as Arsenal’s sporting director before leaving them for what has turned out to be a direct rival in Nottingham Forest. They spent a combined £65m on players they didn’t need.
Basking in Declan Rice being one of very few Premier League record signings to actually be worth the money, they took the slightly odd step of signing another Declan Rice to watch Declan Rice from the bench as Merino’s not anywhere near as good as the actual Declan Rice.
Guys, Martin Zubimendi was right there.
Leandro Trossard
We’re not suggesting that Trossard needs to be sent packing or that he hasn’t been a successful signing; £20m was a snip, but he’s a squad player, not someone who should be starting regularly in a team challenging for the title.
The injuries to Saka and Odegaard has seen him play more often than he otherwise would have done, but similar problems for Liverpool would see Arne Slot turn to one of Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota or Cody Gakpo as a back-up, all of whom would be starting for Arsenal.
READ MORE: Arsenal January panic buys ranked as Arteta chases new striker after Zubimendi agreement
Thomas Partey
He’s played more and better than anyone would have thought this season, but Arsenal don’t want to put themselves in a similar position to Manchester United, where the speedy demise of Casemiro at a similar stage of his career to Partey left them horribly exposed with no alternative to replace him.
Partey continuing to perform at what has been a surprisingly high level should be seen as a bonus for Arsenal rather than something they can rely upon, with the departure of Jorginho at the end of the season likely to force their hand in the transfer market in search of a new defensive midfielder. Do not renew Partey’s contract, guys. For all the reasons.
