Arsenal face new transfer demand after worrying title themes continue | OneFootball

Gunners remain short on creativity and do not have the squad depth necessary to cope with injury crisis

There was more than a hint of Deja vu about Arsenal’s performance at Brighton on Saturday.

They faded in the second half on Saturday at the Amex as fatigue set into a squad already hit by injuries and illness.

Growing problems: Mikel Arteta faces a number of familiar hurdles to Arsenal’s latest title bid

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That will be a major concern given the Gunners still have seven more games to come this month, starting with the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final tie against Newcastle on Tuesday.

Arteta said in his final press conference of 2024 how his New Year’s resolution was to keep everyone fit.

That was no surprise given Arsenal lost captain Martin Odegaard for two months to an ankle injury earlier this season and now Bukayo Saka will be absent until at least March after tearing his hamstring.

Arteta’s luck, however, has not turned and his squad have kicked off this year with illness in the camp. It has forced Kai Havertz to miss the last two games, while Odegaard was only fit enough for the bench on Saturday after not training in the build-up to the match at Brighton.

The end result was that Arsenal were without their four best attackers, because Gabriel Martinelli was also unable to start due to a knock.

Without Havertz, Martinelli, Odegaard and Saka in the team, Arsenal lacked creativity and Declan Rice was charged with being their most advanced midfielder.

Their one real spark came from Ethan Nwaneri, who opened the scoring, but he was forced off at half-time through injury.

It will only add to the calls from Arsenal fans to spend and there was a stark contrast between the two benches on Saturday.

Trailing at the break, Brighton brought on forwards Georginio Rutter and Yankuba Minteh - two players signed last summer for a combined £70million. After Joao Pedro’s penalty, they threw on Kaoru Mitoma, too.

Arsenal brought on Martinelli at the break for the injured Nwaneri. The only other forwards Arteta had on the bench were academy duo Ismeal Kabia and Nathan Butler-Oyedeji.

Arteta said afterwards how he had never seen a penalty decision like the one given on Saturday, arguing also that William Saliba got the ball as he clashed heads with Pedro.

That may be the case, however Arteta will have seen this Arsenal performance before and a lack of creativity has been a worrying theme this season.

On nine occasions in the Premier League this term, the Gunners have scored one or no goals. In seven of those games, they have dropped points.

Injuries have clearly played a big part in that. What team wouldn’t struggle without Odegaard or Saka?

Arsenal have the same number of points as they had at this exact stage last season, when they also looked burnt out.

Last season Arsenal were re-energised by a winter trip to Dubai... they do not have that luxury this time

A trip to Dubai re-energised them and they returned to finish the season by winning 16 of their final 18 league games.

It will probably take something similar to catch Liverpool now, but Arsenal do not have the luxury of being able to jet off for some winter sun. Last January, they had three games. This time, that number has trebled to nine.

The challenge for Arteta is to try and raise his squad at this difficult time, and the magnitude of the games ahead should help.

After Newcastle, the Gunners host Manchester United in the FA Cup and then Tottenham in the north London derby.

The results in those three games will go a long way to changing the mood at Arsenal, either for the better or worse.