Arsenal's Premier League title push has been impressive this season, but perhaps the past few games have shown where they have to improve to stay at the top for years to come. Without a win in four, the Gunners have seen their lead cut to just two points, with rivals Manchester City holding two games in hand.
It looks more likely that the current champions add yet another to their cabinet unless there's a dramatic drop off in their own form, meaning lessons must be learned about where points have been dropped by the Gunners. The side haven't gone perfect this season, which is no sin, but there are places to improve.
Perhaps one of the main areas is the tools that Mikel Arteta has available to solve multiple problems in many different ways. The Spaniard has that in attack this season, with Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson all able to cause problems on the wings.
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At centre-forward there's Gabriel Jesus, who can rotate into many positions on the pitch, with Leandro Trossard adding similar qualities to the squad after his January arrival and Eddie Nketiah offering a more tradition skillset to the No. 9 role. In games that the Gunners have dominated, mixing and matching the forward positions have often allowed for answers to be found.
However, in games that haven't quite gone in the favour of Arsenal, especially in recent weeks, it's the other areas of the pitch that have offered little in the way of variation. A midfield three of Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka and Martin Odegaard have been the regular options, but without one of them, the drop in performances are stark.
Any dip in form for those three too and there's not many players that Arteta can call upon to replace them, while if he wants to make a complete change in shape, there's also little available to him. Similar can be said of the defence, with injuries to both William Saliba and Takehiro Tomiyasu reducing the numbers in the squad.
In all, it means that unless Arsenal dominate the game in their usual system and style of play, it can become difficult to change the tide in their favour. Man City showed the perfect example of how they've managed to combat that with their transfers and displayed it at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday.
Instead of his usual 3-2-4-1, that would usually see one of the defenders tuck into midfield, Guardiola offered a back four on the ball that nullified the press of the Gunners. Manuel Akanji played at left-back, while Kyle Walker was brought in from the cold to play at right-back to see out the plan.
Instead of a defender playing one of the roles as a midfielder next to Rodri, Ilkay Gundogan was seen a lot closer to his midfield partner. It was a tweak that Guardiola had license to use thanks to the clever work in the transfer market, as well as his own ideas in how to overcome any team in the league.
For Arteta to come closer to winning many games in different ways, adding more options in the transfer window that allows him to make changes is the way forward. It's what has City as high as they are and it's the next step Arsenal need to take.
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