Mikel Arteta waited 84 minutes to make a substitution in this damaging draw with Aston Villa, and when he finally broke glass, his only tool was a blunt Raheem Sterling. For all Sterling’s known talents, he is a 30-year-old winger of fading impact and it was enough to wonder whether the player he was replacing, an utterly shattered Gabriel Martinelli, might still have been the better option as the minutes ticked away.
Arsenal’s lack of depth right now doesn’t entirely explain how they contrived to draw this game 2-2, having led 2-0 after an hour, as mighty chunks of their title bid crumbled away. Aston Villa deserve plenty of credit. But it was conspicuous that where Arteta made only one substitution, just minutes before kick-off here, Liverpool had snatched victory at Brentford thanks to a £60m substitute, Darwin Nunez, one of five luxury second-half changes by Arne Slot.
