Arsenal: Mikel Arteta knows his biggest challenge this summer as first task for Andrea Berta is obvious | OneFootball

The Gunners have fallen even further behind in the title race as familiar problems resurfaced in the draw with Manchester United

Mikel Arteta watched his Arsenal side draw 1-1 with Manchester United at the weekend

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Amorim was right to do so and on another day his side could easily have claimed all three points instead of one.

The plan for United was simple: sit deep, let Arsenal have the ball and try to hit them on the counter attack.

They are not the first side to follow that blueprint and they won’t be the last, because it is clearly the most effective way to stop Arsenal.

Mikel Arteta is refusing to throw in the towel in the Premier League title race, but it is over and his biggest challenge this summer is to come up with a plan as to how his side breakdown defences that sit in low blocks.

Injuries have made doing so harder for Arsenal, however it was a problem that existed even before they were shorn of four forwards.

Arsenal, for example, drew 0-0 with Everton in December. They had 76.6 per cent possession and Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz all started. Gabriel Jesus came off the bench.

The Gunners have lost three Premier League games this season and their average possession across those matches was 61 per cent.

They have had 10 draws in the league and the average possession in those games comes out at 55 per cent. That number is skewed, too, by the fact two of those games - Brighton and Manchester City - Arsenal went down to 10 men.

Against City they had 22.8 per cent possession and Brighton it was 35.8 per cent. Every other draw, bar Liverpool at home, Arsenal had more of the ball.

Arsenal now trail Premier League leaders Liverpool by 15 points

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Amorim declared in the future he wants to play “different football”, not a game plan based around sitting deep, but when it came to stopping Arsenal there was no denying a low block was the way to do it.

PSV Eindhoven showed during their 7-1 defeat at the heads of the Gunners on Tuesday what happens when sides opt to press high up the pitch.

The Dutch side surely won’t have the same game plan on Wednesday night for the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie, while Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca must also be thinking he would be wise to follow Amorim’s lead when they travel to Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

Arteta can point to United’s goal coming from a Bruno Fernandes free-kick after a first half that Arsenal dominated.

But they created very little in that time and it was not until Declan Rice’s curling strike 16 minutes before the end that they finally found the net.

United actually carried a greater threat in the second half and David Raya was forced to make three excellent saves.

So how does Arteta solve the problem of Arsenal breaking down deep defences?

In the immediacy, the return of Saka will help. He is the one player in the squad capable of conjuring something from nothing.

The winger is also vital to Arsenal’s set-piece threat, which has dried up at the worst time. It is now 11 matches since the Gunners scored from a from a dead-ball situation. So often that was their way to break a game open.

Bukayo Saka could return for Arsenal next month

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A tactical tweak may help, too. Rice has excelled as the left No8, but could he be dropped deeper against teams that play a low block so that Arsenal can field two playmakers in Ethan Nwaneri and Martin Odegaard?

In the long term, it is impossible to look past the need for Arsenal to bolster their attack this summer.

Andrea Berta is closing in on becoming the club’s sporting director and top of the shopping list needs to be one, arguably two, forwards.

Arteta has spoken, even last season, about the need for players who can create “magic moments”.

There have been some of those moments in recent weeks, but from unusual sources. Riccardo Calafiori scored the winner at Wolves. It was Jurrien Timber’s run on Sunday that led to Rice scoring from the edge of the box.

Arsenal are big fans of Newcastle striker Alexander Isak, while they are also tracking RB Leipzig forward Benjamin Sesko and Spain winger Nico Williams.

All of them would be welcome additions as Arteta looks to evolve his side into one that can win major trophies.