Looking at the Premier League table after last weekend’s games, it’s clear that the title race isn’t simply between last season’s top two. According to their recent performances, Manchester City, Arsenal, and Liverpool are all in the running for the league title. Spurs were showing signs of becoming title contenders, but with losses to Chelsea and Wolves in their previous two games, as well as the injuries they have, I believe they are still not strong enough to compete for the title.
Mikel Arteta will have to outwit not only Pep Guardiola but also Jurgen Klopp. According to Chris Sutton, speaking on the BBC, the one thing the Spaniard needs to improve on in order to be better than Liverpool is his striking.
The former Chelsea star compared Mikel Arteta and Jurgen Klopp’s attacking options on the BBC’s Monday Night Club. He admits Arsenal have attacking alternatives but indicates that Liverpool has better attacking options.
He said: “The issue with Arsenal is that, and I think Alan Shearer said about Eddie Nketiah not being an elite striker, and I think everybody feels there is maybe the thought there is a bit of a void in that centre-forward position for Arsenal, whereas Liverpool have that covered.
“Arteta can play Jesus, Nketiah; he can play Trossard if he wants as a false nine, but they don’t have the options that Liverpool have.”
If Erling Haaland and Manchester City have taught us anything, it is that you may need a reliable goal source to tap into at times. Haaland was vital to the Citizens’ victories, which helped them win the league last season.
As has been stated numerous times, Arsenal should sign a proper striker in the winter, as this may be their magic bullet in the title chase.
Daniel O
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The missing puzzle piece is that Arsenal need a tall strong 20 goal a season technical TargetMan that can create spaces, hold up the ball, link play and be a clinical Finnisher. Not a lot to ask, but it is going to cost them a lot of money to find that gem of a player. Their best option would be a player swap plus cash.
We need to sign a proper no.9 in the January transfer window who gives us consistent goals and also links up well and creates for other attackers. I think Toney should do well in our set up since we consistently create goal scoring chances and crosses into the box.
Arsenal has no strikers, period. We may have players in the position of striker, but they are not natural, designated goal poachers.
It’s a wonder why an ambitious coach and team would deliberately make its task more difficult by not acquiring a striker, opting to spend tens of millions on an indescribable attacking player, unproven(or failed) attacker.
Strongly agree that Arsenal has no strikers. We need to buy one and I believe the ambitious owner’s son will support it. We also need another midfielder.
Arsenal must not buy second hand footballers from Man City and Chelsea again. The recruitment team should be sacked if they make mistakes again. They are paid to put in effort to search. They are so lazy & their laziness can cause us title.
Well,the facts certainly don’t support this opinion. I think many people evaluate Darwin Nunez based on his Benfica days- he has never replicated his Benfica output in the EPL. In fact,Gabriel Jesus scored more goals than Nunez last season,despite playing fewer matches due to injury. This season,Eddie Nketiah has actually outscored all their starting number 9s – Diogo Jota and Nunez. Cody Gakpo who was highly regarded before moving to Liverpool is not banging in goals either.
Liverpool,like Arsenal don’t really rely on their CF to score goals. The primary source of goals for Liverpool is Salah. The rest of their goals are spread throughout the team,again,just like Arsenal. Even the best Liverpool sides of the past 5-8 years never had this prolific striker. They had an all-rounded forward in Firmino who facilitated their attack and allowed Mane and Salah to score lots of goals.Personally,I think our best attack is a match for whoever they have in attack. You can’t convince me that Martinelli-Jesus-Saka can’t match Diaz-Nunez-Salah. You throw in back-ups/depth and I think we are marginally better.
That said,our defence is arguably better than Liverpool’s at the moment,despite having conceded the same number of goals. I say this because Arsenal has conceded the least amount of shots on goal so far this season- I believe that Rice is a big part of this and Liverpool just don’t have a midfielder with his qualities;they’d have been more formidable if they acquired Caicedo,who is a quality DM. At the moment,their midfield is working for them,but I believe our midfield with a healthy Partey is a match for whatever they’ve got;maybe even more balanced.Anyway,this could all be me talking as a biased Arsenal fan.
In a nutshell,are Nunez,Jota and Gakpo better strikers than Jesus,Nketiah and Trossard? Not for me. And the numbers don’t support that opinion either.
Perhaps it will take us another season to accept that while we can compare Salah, Nunez, Gakpo to Saka, Martinelli, Jesus; we cannot with clear consciences say Nketiah, Havertz are on par with Louis Diaz and Jota. While we have Trossard and Odegaard as main contributors, we are still short of someone to hit 15-20 goals a season. The need for a striker is glaring.
It’s interesting that you’re comparing Liverpool’s starting forwards(Diaz & Jota) to Nketiah,who is a back up and Havertz who has predominantly played in midfield and has only featured at CF a few times eg against City, in which he contributed to the winning goal. Be FAIR and compare Diaz to Martinelli and Jota to Jesus. The fair comparison to Nketiah would be Nunez,and so far this season,Nketiah has scored more. Salah scores more than Saka,but Trossard can offset that. Last season Arsenal scored 13 more goals than Liverpool,by the way,with all the players you mention. We also have more goals potentially from midfield(ESR,Odegaard and Rice).Sometimes I feel like our players are underrated by some of our fans while overrating our competitors.
I cannot,with a clear conscience,say Gakpo and Nunez are on par with the likes of Martinelli and Jesus as you claim.
He’s absolutely right too. Liverpool’s saving grace so many games is that Salah or even players like Jota/Diaz can produce a good moment almost at will when they go forward. Arsenal, we need 4-5 different scenarios to go in our favor to create a good chance. Liverpool players think less and are more effective at scoring when required it feels. Arsenal it still feels like we are pulling at teeth in some games to get a solid shot at goal. That said, we only have one match we haven’t scored in but think most of us see there is another level to this attack if we get a real No 9.
We have a bigger priority in midfield as opposed to a striker.
We are not goal shy,experience taught us the a strong spine is the key to lifting that big jug
I’m not worried Tomiyasu will take care of Salah and show the league how it’s done
Liverpool have scored only one single goal more than Arsenal in 12 league games, so I don’t see the basis for all this talk about strikers and all that.
Arsenal’s greatest strength last season was, and still remains, the sharing of the goal scoring responsibilities among several players. What has served the team well as a strength can not suddenly become a weakness.
It is the defensive midfield of the team that needs immediate attention for strengthening