Accidents have decimated Arsenal’s entrance line and all of the speak is about in the summertime.
However there are nonetheless 11 Premier League video games and a Champions League marketing campaign to navigate first.
Arteta has tried Leandro Trossard up entrance, experimented with Mikel Merino and seen Raheem Sterling battle in his cameo roles. So who else is left?
In all probability the most definitely is Nathan Butler-Oyedeji, the 22-year-old who made his debut within the dying ebbs of January’s Champions League win over Dinamo Zagreb.
Deployed primarily on the left but additionally at centre-forward, Butler-Oyedeji has 20 objectives in 60 video games for Arsenal Below-21s and has been on the bench for seven of the previous eight Premier League video games.
Arteta has but to show to him nonetheless, regardless of the Gunners’ determined want for objectives in latest matches – however he might need to.
Accompanying Butler-Oyedeji within the dugout on the Metropolis Floor on Wednesday night time was 19-year-old Ismeal Kabia, a Dutch winger who solely has eight begins in Premier League 2.
He made his first-team bow in opposition to Bolton within the Carabao Cup earlier this season and did rating at Leyton Orient within the EFL Trophy too. Nonetheless, he actually wouldn’t match the profile of a central striker.
Maybe Jamaica striker Khayon Edwards is value a go. Prime scorer in Premier League 2, he has 9 objectives in 12 video games this season together with six in his previous seven.
A minimum of the 21-year-old is aware of the place the again of the web is, though his mortgage spell at Leyton Orient final season the place he solely began 4 video games yielded no objectives and no assists.
Followers may very well be forgiven for wistfully Chido Obi-Martin who swapped Arsenal Below-18s for earlier this season after smashing 32 objectives in 21 video games for the academy facet and has already made two senior appearances for the Pink Devils.
No answer is ideal however successive blanks in opposition to West Ham and Nottingham Forest show one thing needs to be accomplished.
And, in any case, the success of Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri this season has showcased the expertise in Arsenal’s academy. Can Arteta discover one other one?
