Arsenal and Tottenham prepare to renew bitter rivalry but face the same big problem
Arsenal and Tottenham prepare to renew bitter rivalry but face the same big problem
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Compromises in the transfer market and unrealistic ambition has left Mikel Arteta and Ange Postecoglou in similar positions despite being on different sides of the north London divide. As Marcus Rashford looks beyond Tottenham Hotspur’s interest and to European clubs, Arsenal have found they can no longer look as far as the summer. Mikel Arteta has been in discussion with the club hierarchy about bringing forward plans for a “project attacker”, with their hands finally forced by Gabriel Jesus’ ACL injury.
![[Mikel Arteta and Ange Postecoglou may well be able to sympathise with each other’s situation]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/14/14/newFile-2.jpg)
Some at the club would have said they should have had such a player in place before this season. Arteta wants a physically imposing forward who can grow, with Sporting’s Viktor Gyokeres, Paris Saint-Germain’s Randal Kolo Muani and Brighton’s Evan Ferguson all raised, and RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko the ideal profile.
![[Arteta is facing criticism for his lack of trophies at Arsenal]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/14/11/04e589012ed1ac25114daafafc5bbb43Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzM2OTM5ODEx-2.75200230.jpg)
The hope is to break the recent block, and maybe break a ceiling. On the latter, there’s a fact that those close to Arteta feel worth reminding people of, especially amid all of the emotive debate that has followed the recent drop in form. Only eight managers in Premier League history have driven their team to 89 points in a 38-game season. They are Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Antonio Conte, Sir Alex Ferguson, Roberto Mancini, Arsene Wenger and… Arteta. One further fact naturally stands out from that. Arteta is the only one of those managers not to win the Premier League. While that will be held against the Spaniard, it shows how high the threshold has been in the competition's Guardiola era.
![[Bukayo Saka’s injury has exposed Arsenal’s lack of recruitment in that area]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/21/18/2190968111.jpg)
