The Arsenal midfield has been the victim of African Cup of Nations participation, suspensions, Covid-19 and naïve transfer decisions this January and two competition exits can be attributed to the thinness of the position.
Arsenal lost Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny to the AFCON and Granit Xhaka tested positive for Covid whilst Ainsley Maitland-Niles was allowed to leave on loan for Roma despite the shortages in the role. Xhaka and Partey were also sent off in each leg respectively of the League Cup semi-final defeat to Liverpool.
Arsenal have come through the month without a win and now do not play until the 10th of February when all of the aforementioned players, bar Maitland-Niles, will have returned.