LONDON — At some point this month, Arsenal will have to make the same decision they made this summer: Do we have enough in attack to win the Premier League?
Wednesday’s 3-1 win at Brentford on New Year’s Day was inconclusive. Manager Mikel Arteta said the search for solutions without Bukayo Saka — sidelined until March following hamstring surgery — would start internally and he sprung a surprise here by handing to a teenager Ethan Nwaneri his first league start in Saka’s usual position on the right side.
It was encouraging to see that Nwaneri looked calm beyond his years and contributed to both Arsenal second-half goals while Gabriel Jesus And Gabriel MartinelliThe double presence on the scoresheet will encourage those who believe the Gunners have enough firepower to hunt down Liverpool.
After all, they narrowed the gap at the top to six points without Saka and Kai Havertzwho was absent due to a virus which Arteta said had affected several players during preparation. Havertz has been sent home to self-isolate and is expected to be available for Saturday’s trip to Brighton & Hove Albion.
And yet a nagging feeling persists that Arsenal may need a little more if they are to achieve their publicly stated goal of adding major trophies to five years of sustained progress under Arteta.
“We have broken so many records but the reality is that this team does not have the big titles that we are looking for,” he said before kick-off and although the result eases some of the pressure on the club to act In the January market, this fan desire is bubbling beneath the surface and has actually been since the summer.
Sources have told ESPN that club officials concluded after their UEFA Champions League quarter-final exit to Bayern Munich that they needed a winger or central striker to strengthen their offensive options and then identified Benjamin Sesko to RB Leipzig as preferred choice.
Leipzig quickly signed a new deal with Sesko and Arsenal opted to keep their powder dry, believing an ideal alternative was not available. Liverpool’s lead in the top spots is under constant scrutiny and the Gunners are revisiting the same conundrum this month, with some fans pushing for a winger and others suggesting a clinical finisher should be the priority acquisition.
It is, however, something the club have some time to think about after recovering from a 13-minute goal down at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Mikkel Damsgaard found Bryan Mbeumo in space and like Riccardo Calafiori too deliberately retreated, Mbeumo had time to line up a shot which deceived the goalkeeper David Raya in his first position. Mbeumo’s effort was expertly placed but lacking a frightening pace that would have absolved Raya of any responsibility.
Arsenal looked a little flat but woke up afterwards. Mark Flekken I could only beat Thomas Parteyin the 29th minute, Jesus’ shot, who headed the rebound before Mikel Merinos converted Nwaneri’s corner which Brentford failed to clear five minutes into the second half.
Three minutes later, another delivery from Nwaneri caused problems. Nathan Collins could only direct the ball to Martinelli and he fired a beautiful shot past Flekken.
The signs of revival in Martinelli and Jesus came at an opportune time. Jesus has six goals in four games after a deeply troubling run of one goal in 33 games. Martinelli now has three in his last four away league games after a run of one in his previous 26 on the road.
“Really good timing, both are really important,” Arteta said.
“Sharing goals is a great quality of our team. Today we did it again, scoring in three very different ways. Great, that’s what we need. The people up front have to perform and have this feeling and they have this feeling right now.”
Asking Nwaneri – in the fourth start of his young career – to replicate Saka’s remarkably consistent creative output would be both unfair and unrealistic, especially since right-wing is not a position he has specialized in at the youth level.
But his performance here against a depleted Brentford side, who are yet to keep a clean sheet at home in the Championship this season, offered enough to suggest this is an option worth further exploration.
“In this position, it was not because of a bug, it was a decision I made (to start Nwaneri) because I thought he was the best player in position to start the match” , Arteta said.
“And because there was a history with his debut in the Premier League here and sometimes this feeling arises and you feel it’s the right one and then who knows?
“Part of that development is having patience and dealing with frustration or managing expectations because you expect everything to go as quickly as the previous things and that’s not the case. So now, we’re building him up. He’s already played a lot of minutes for us with his age and he fully deserves it.”
And with Léandro Trossard only needed as a late substitute, Arteta may feel he has enough for the four competitions that are fast approaching.
The availability of favored targets will inevitably be a factor in January, but Arsenal will soon have to decide whether to brave the market to find the impetus they need or back the current group to cross the finish line after two years of almost -accidents.
Asked if the Arsenal squad felt short of options under the circumstances, Arteta replied: “When I see the willingness of every individual to play through anything and the versatility that we can create within the framework of our idea, the answer is no.
“But we obviously don’t know if anything else happens, we would have other problems. I hope not, I hope people come back. We need everyone.”
