News that Arsenal could now be without a recognised centre-forward for the remainder of 2024/25 has hit their fading Premier League title hopes like a ton of bricks.
“It’s a good thing we signed a striker in January,” came the chorus of replies from Gunners fans on social media when reacting to reports that Kai Havertz (£7.8m) had torn his hamstring during a warm weather training camp in the Middle East. “Oh wait…”
Mikel Arteta may be rueing that particular decision, as Gabriel Jesus (£6.6m) is out for the season with a knee injury picked up in January.
To make matters worse, left winger Gabriel Martinelli (£6.7m) has been nursing a hamstring issue of his own since last week’s cup defeat. He could be out for more than a month.
On top of all this, there’s the continued absence of Bukayo Saka (£10.2m). He remains Arsenal’s top Fantasy Premier League (FPL) scorer despite not playing a minute of action since Gameweek 17. His hamstring problem could keep him out for a further month.
This all begs the question of just how Arteta’s side will line up with so few attackers at his disposal.
Here are a few possible answers.
OPTION 1: TRIED AND TESTED
From Arsenal’s remaining attackers, Leandro Trossard (£6.8m) presents the best combination of form and experience playing through the middle.
The Belgian has tallied a respectable four goals and five assists from 16 league starts. Before these two successive blanks, four of those returns came over the four previous starts.
Few of this term’s appearances have been at the attack’s central point – particularly in the league – with Trossard usually lining up on the left of a front three as positional competition for Martinelli.
But when he has been given the nod up front, he hasn’t disappointed. A total of 39 career appearances as either a centre-forward or false nine have yielded eight goals and 10 assists. Several of those came last season and he scored one against Leicester City in September while playing just off Havertz. It was a similar story at Brighton and Hove Albion, where a smattering of goals came centrally.
Above: Trossard positional history, according to Transfermarkt
Arsenal’s next couple of opponents could offer up plenty of chances, allowing Trossard to be a shrewd out-of-position pick-up for those willing to punt on a differential.
Assuming he leads the line, the wings will almost certainly be occupied by Ethan Nwaneri (£4.5m) and Raheem Sterling (£6.7m), given they are the only other established attackers now at Arteta’s disposal.
Nwaneri has repeatedly impressed when given opportunities, many of which have come on the right wing in Saka’s absence. He has scored three league goals so far, including one in just six minutes against Manchester City in Gameweek 24, plus another in the Champions League and several in earlier EFL Cup rounds.
With left-footed Nwaneri on the right, the versatile right-footed Sterling should get the nod for the left.
The former Liverpool and Man City star has yet to produce much since arriving on loan from Chelsea. Indeed, he has just one goal and two assists across 18 appearances in all competitions.
But these coming weeks should give him as good a chance as he’ll ever get in an Arsenal shirt to show he’s still got some life in his 30-year-old legs.
Of course, these alternatives assume that Arteta doesn’t feel forced into going rogue by switching up his formation and personnel. Things aren’t quite that dire yet, so it’s unlikely we see a complete system change.
Martin Odegaard (£8.2m), Declan Rice (£6.2m) and Thomas Partey (£4.9m) all delivered attacking returns from midfield against the champions. Behind them is a consistent back four: Jurrien Timber (£5.6m), Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.3m), William Saliba (£6.2m) and Myles Lewis-Skelly (£4.5m).
OPTION 2: TRUST THE PAST
Sterling actually has the best record of Arteta’s remaining attacking options when playing as a centre forward or false nine. 62 appearances, 25 goals, 10 assists. Last season, he also delivered two goals in as many matches for Chelsea from being a second striker.
However, the last time he got significant minutes as a centre forward was 2022/23 when the England international produced four of his nine total attacking returns (three goals, one assist) in 10 matches from that position. He also played as Man City’s false nine several years ago, finishing 2019/20 with 20 strikes.
Above: Sterling positional history, according to Transfermarkt
It’s perhaps not enough – or recent enough – to convince Arteta that he can be trusted to deliver consistently, as his side fights to keep up with Liverpool in the title race. But we could see some frontline fluidity between Sterling and Trossard, given their experiences both on the left and through the middle.
OPTION 3: TRUST THE FUTURE
Here are some quotes from Arteta in mid-December on Nwaneri:
“Ethan can play as a right attacking midfielder, a left attacking midfielder. He can play as a right winger and there is another position I think he can develop in a few years’ time: number nine.
“When he’s got the goal in front of him, he just looks at the goal. He has a tremendous ability to put the ball into the back of the net.”
Positive words from the Spaniard on his up-and-coming 17-year-old. Centre-forward is a position that Nwaneri hasn’t really occupied, aside from at youth level. But two seasons ago he did score a ridiculous five goals from there in a single FA Youth Cup tie. There’s also a good record in the U18 Premier League.
It’s all very different in the top flight though, so Nwaneri may not yet be deemed ready to lead the line for the first team unless the injury situation worsens even further.
It’s tough to say whether this is more or less likelier than Sterling going there. The same is true of Nathan Butler-Oyedeji (£4.5m), the 22-year-old academy graduate priced as a cheap FPL forward. He’s largely only appeared for the club’s second unit, apart from a first-team debut in the closing stages of last month’s Champions League win over Dinamo Zagreb.
So again, Arteta’s likeliest route is to deploy Trossard in the space left by Havertz’s absence. Unless…
OPTION 4: THROW CAUTION TO THE WIND
Now this one could be a little silly. But how about an option whose physical profile is more similar to Havertz than any of the three players above?
Mikel Merino (£6.0m) is slightly shorter than his German team-mate and doesn’t have the same attacking instincts and experience. Although he towers above Sterling, Trossard and Nwaneri when looking at height.
The Spanish central midfielder has yet to nail down a spot since his summer arrival but he grabbed eight goals in all competitions for Real Sociedad last season and has scored twice since returning to the Premier League.
He is physically strong and good in the air, alongside a willingness to press the opposition when out of possession. These are all attributes that persuaded Arteta to shift Havertz from midfield into the centre-forward spot.
It’s a wild choice, absolutely. So, before we start talking about Riccardo Calafiori (£5.8m) reprising the attacking roots of his youth, we’ll stop here.
