He could not have foreseen the extent of Arsenal’s injuries, which began when Martin Ødegaard was ruled out for two months after returning from international duty in early September, but Arteta may be regretting the decision to allow Eddie Nketiah to join Crystal Palace three days after Merino’s arrival.
But as Arteta pointed out when his side surrendered a 2-0 lead at home to Aston Villa last month on the same day that Darwin Núñez came off the bench to score two late goals for Liverpool at Brentford, there are moments that can define a season and Arsenal’s may have passed.
Given the Arsenal manager’s disappointment that they were unable to bring in reinforcements in the January transfer window, he could be forgiven for wondering what else could possibly have gone wrong in a season he had hoped would prove to see his side coming of age.
It was interesting to note that neither of his two major summer signings, Riccardo Calafiori and Mikel Merino, started the 5-1 thrashing of Manchester City in Arsenal’s most recent Premier League game, with Myles Lewis-Skelly excelling at left-back and Declan Rice thriving in the left midfield role.
Arteta said last week that Sterling and Trossard were capable of playing through the middle and has earmarked Nwaneri as a future No 9 given the teenager’s ruthlessness in front of goal that has brought him seven goals in a breakthrough campaign.
