Here is your Arsenal morning digest for Monday, May 16.
Merson verdict
Arsenal legend Paul Merson has admitted that Mikel Arteta's tactics have frustrated him recently. Speaking on Sky Sports, Merson said: “It frustrates me Jeff.
"He’s supposed to be a top-drawer manager. We all know Tottenham are one of the best teams in the world at counter-attacking football.
"They’ve drawn with Liverpool twice and done the double over Manchester City. Why don’t they play that way [like Brighton did in North London]?
"Why do you have to go out with this ‘we’re going to play the right way, this is the way football is played’.”
Petit's advice
Former Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Petit has told Gunners technical director Edu to target Newcastle United's Allan Saint-Maximin or Wilfried Zaha of Crystal Palace. Speaking to Genting Casino, via the Daily Star, the Frenchman said: "I've heard big names as well, (Gabriel) Jesus, (Raheem) Sterling, I really like Zaha, or even someone like Saint-Maximin from Newcastle."
"Martinelli is a very good player, just like Saka, but when they get injured, who's going to play on the left and right?
"There are no options, they need at least four players, at least two upfront.”
Read more here.
Injury updates
Mikel Arteta has provided an update on the injuries of Ben White and Gabriel Magalhaes ahead of Arsenal's clash against Newcastle. "We will know probably more tomorrow, so we wanted to extend this period as much as possible to understand how they are recovering, how they are feeling, assess them and tomorrow probably we will know more about how they are", the Spaniard said when asked about the two defenders.
Arteta was also asked how he could adjust his setup given his side's ongoing injury woes, to which he replied: "We will have to modify certain positions to try to make it work, because we don't have more defenders and even though we have academy players, they haven't experienced a lot of those positions because they're not specified central defenders, so it's something that we will try to find a way."
Read the full story here.
