Back in December, Mikel Arteta said the striker situation at Arsenal had cast a cloud over the club. He was hopeful it would not linger too long but, as they head to Wolves tonight, the next few months could come with a stormy forecast.
January presented a good opportunity for Arsenal to address the issues with their forward line but they have come away from the transfer window still needing to overhaul that area of their squad and, for now, relying on two out-and-out strikers with just three Premier League goals between them this season.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s departure to Barcelona leaves the Gunners’ hopes of Champions League qualification resting on the firepower of Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah.
The likes of Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli can ease the burden on Lacazette and Nketiah, who are also out of contract in the summer, but it is difficult to look past the fact Arsenal are very short on options heading into the business end of the season.
“Auba’s trajectory at the club and the importance of his goals is unquestionable,” Arteta said.
“But we have other players, and we believe we have other qualities in different ways to try to accomplish the amount of goals that we need in the team. That’s what we are going to try to do.”
At Molineux tonight, Arteta has the first chance to prove he was right to let Aubameyang leave on a free transfer and put his faith in Lacazette and Nketiah.
It was a bold decision, perhaps the biggest of Arteta’s two years at Arsenal, and whatever happens between now and May it will be impossible to not look through it via the prism of Aubameyang’s exile and subsequent departure.
Arteta has been in football long enough to know that, and it is why a win tonight, ideally with a goal from Lacazette, would be the perfect result after a two-week break.
“It will be about winning or not because when you make a decision, we won five games in a row [when Aubameyang was initially dropped] and I haven’t had one question about: ‘Do you have enough goals in the team?’” said Arteta.
“I get it. Now you do. It’s going to happen. It’s normal. But my decision, our decision as a club cannot be based on that because if not, then I know where we’re going to go 100 per cent, and it’s not to the place where we want to take the club.”
Arsenal’s winter break came at just the right time for them after a miserable January in which they slipped out of the top four and crashed out of both domestic cup competitions.
The chance to get away for some warm-weather training in Dubai and regroup mentally, as well as to get players fit, was vital as Arsenal return to action with all their focus now on qualifying for the Champions League.
With nothing else to play for, it ramps up the pressure but also provides clarity over Arsenal’s aim for the rest of the season.
The Gunners are sat sixth, four points off West Ham in fourth but with three games in hand.
“The most important thing is that we are all on the same page: focused and determined, with the right belief and going game by game,” said Arteta.
“I trust the players, the quality that we have, the spirit, the togetherness that we have around the team and we can achieve what we want.”
