1) Mudryk not a major loss but Gunners need new blood
When Arsenal were as rhapsodic as in their first half at Tottenham, it was tempting to wonder just where Mykhaylo Mudryk might have fitted in. In Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli, Mikel Arteta already has the Premier League’s most potent wingers. Would it have been worth lashing out next year’s transfer budget and breaking wage structures for a player not guaranteed to start? Instead, the Ukrainian takes up his lengthy, lucrative new contract at Chelsea. That Gabriel Jesus’s injury will keep him out longer than hoped must also have altered strategic thinking. Finding a player who can replace the Brazilian will be exacting, and while Eddie Nketiah continues to shimmer, working devilishly across the front at Tottenham, a lack of further centre-forward options points to Arsenal’s primacy being a result of their having the best first XI in the Premier League rather than the deepest squad. Quality reinforcements could still come in rather handy. John Brewin
