Not long after the hugely exciting Ethan Nwaneri had struck a fantastic fifth in a memorable victory over Manchester City, an Arsenal-supporting friend messaged to say - that’s it, we are definitely not buying anyone on deadline day. Sad face emoji. He was, of course, ecstatic about Arsenal’s performance and understandably effusive about Nwaneri and the prodigiously talented Myles Lewis-Skelly. And everyone is looking forward to seeing a lot more of Lewis-Skelly, Nwaneri and perhaps others from Arsenal’s academy in the final four months of the season. Make no mistake, they will be needed.

Because while the decision of the best team in England not to get involved in the mid-season transfer window was a no-brainer, the decision of the second-best team in England not to get involved in the mid-season transfer window was a gamble. And quite a sizeable gamble, at that. It was soon apparent that Arsenal would not get involved but it is a gamble all the same. For an imperious Liverpool and Arne Slot, there really was no benefit to be had from the January market.

Some of it is down to fortune and some of it is down to preparation and planning, but Liverpool have benefited enormously from a relatively sparse injury list. They had a few physical problems in defensive areas but those have, essentially, cleared up. Slot has quality cover in all departments, from goalkeeper to up-top. Check out who was on the bench at the Vitality Stadium last Saturday. Kelleher, Endo, Nunez, Jones, Elliott, Jota, Tsimikas, Quansah, Bradley. That is formidable.

Most significantly, they have - being generous to Darwin Nunez - an array of scoring options in attack. Nunez, Mohamed Salah, Cody Gakpo, Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota. No wonder the focus for the club’s sporting director, Richard Hughes, and his staff, has been planning for summer business, which will, of course, be largely dictated by the decisions of Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk. Arsenal will also have summer plans, one of which might be to pay the release clause, believed to be in the region of £62million for Matheus Cunha. But having suffered the serious injuries to Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka, Mikel Arteta clearly had a need for short-term, attacking reinforcements.

With his finish against City - atoning for the first half miss - Kai Havertz again showed that he IS a quality striker but the demands on him are going to be tough to handle, mentally and physically. Starting on Wednesday night at St James’ Park, this is going to be a gruelling stretch for Arsenal - and all elite teams - and it is hard not to think the Gunners needed help. The counter-argument is that what Arteta already has at his disposal is VERY good, as was demonstrated against City. The young players are fearlessly brilliant and there are goals throughout the team.

And there is also a sense that Arteta is developing a culture and a togetherness that will stand the club in good stead for the long term, irrespective of any short-term issues. If someone does not fit into that culture, perhaps he is better ignored even if it might bring immediate assistance. It is a balancing act but Liverpool look that efficient, they might well be uncatchable no matter what Arsenal do. In that case, not panicking in the window will be beneficial for Arteta’s long-term plans. But doing nothing was still a gamble.

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