It’s still early days for Arsenal, obviously, in terms of how it will be handled without the injured Bukayo Saka.
They started winning without that talismanic winger, albeit in unconvincing fashion as they edged out Ipswich 1-0 at the Emirates. However, you would suggest that the two very tricky games at Brentford and Brighton will give us a clearer indication of how they will fare without the England international.
Whatever happens, I really think they need to do everything they can in the January transfer window to shore up what now looks like a pretty worn out attack.
Yes, January is a notoriously difficult window to do decent business, but it’s not impossible and I expect Arsenal have been working hard behind the scenes to try and identify a couple of opportunities that could give them the boost they need.
I’m not necessarily talking about a big January move. These types of moves could have to wait until the summer. But there is certainly room for the club to do something to fill the void that Saka’s absence will leave behind.
Arsenal’s interest in the PL star has been confirmed
Arsenal are always reluctant to do business in January and the message going into this window through the conversations I’ve had has always been that the club would be reactive rather than proactive in the market.
That’s understandable, but it feels like something they have to react to. Losing Saka for around ten weeks is a hammer blow. It’s as simple as that.
I don’t think anyone coming in should be a replacement like that. They just need another option who can play on the front line and who can contribute goals and assists.
I’m a big fan of it Matheus Cunha and Arsenal’s interest in him it makes a lot of sense. I understand though that it would be very difficult to pry him away from Wolves mid-season when they are fighting for relegation.
Arda Guler on loan from Real Madrid would also be an interesting move in the short term. We’ve seen Arsenal have some success with a deal like this in the past. Just think of Martin Odegaard, for example.
Guler is young but has shown he can perform on the biggest stage and has the talent to make the difference in the final third.
So there could be options for Arsenal, it’s up to them to go out there and find them.
I thought Gabriel Martinelli was good playing on the right against Ipswich. There have been some good moments and I think it would be unfair to write him off as an option for this side after just one start.
It will take time for him to get used to playing in that role and it will take time for his teammates to get used to someone other than Saka filling those positions.
Arsenal will be different without Saka. Mikel Arteta has already said it. They cannot continue to play the same way with someone else playing their role and expect things to be exactly the same.
Martinelli had some good moments against Ipswich. Whipped in a couple of good crosses, including one that played a role in the goal.
I want to see him do more. Just move the ball to the right foot and get it into the danger area before setting up the defence. The fact that he can do this, rather than cutting in with his stronger foot as he does on the left, should be a boon for Arsenal.
However, he clearly needs work to be more of a threat. He didn’t have a shot against Ipswich and that’s not good enough. He must be a threat, as Saka always is.
While we wait for the window to open, I still think Martinelli is Arsenal’s best option on the right. Ethan Nwaneri is another and is a substitute more similar to the way he plays and the way he likes to cut inside on the left.
It would be nice to see that at some point, but I think you have to stick with Martinelli for now and give him a chance to get used to this role.
It’s hard to look at Liverpool right now and see them go down.
There is still a long way to go and nobody knows better than Arsenal how difficult it is to maintain such an impressive pace for an entire season.
But they look so strong and are clearly playing with such confidence right now. It is very difficult to see where any prolonged slippage is coming from.
In Mo Salah they have the best player in the world at the moment and he is showing the difference week after week.
The numbers he is producing are incredible and when you have players like Cody Gakpo, Luiz Diaz and Jota backing him up, it is just an embarrassment of riches for Arne Slot.
Maybe the contract issues with Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk will start to have a negative impact on Liverpool, but right now this looks a bit like rival teams grasping at straws.
Just watch the West Ham game. Before everyone was talking about Trent and the rumors that he had already told Liverpool that he would leave for Madrid.
Did this cause a distraction? No, he played, he played well, Liverpool scored five and he scored one himself.
So I don’t really see it making much of a difference. If Arsenal or anyone else is going to get Liverpool back, they will have to do it by getting things right themselves, rather than relying on some kind of implosion among the squad at Anfield.
What has gone wrong at Tottenham? I mean, this is a question that someone could spend years studying and still not find a proper answer to.
To be honest, I’m not sure what went wrong with them this season. It’s just Tottenham. This is what they do.
I mean, is anyone really surprised by his struggles this season? I can’t imagine they are.
They have good players, they play good football and on their day they can beat anyone. They just look like a cup team with Ange Postecoglou to me.
He could finally win them a trophy. After all, they are in the semi-final of the League Cup and you would think they should go very far in the Europa League, but I don’t see them competing for the league unless Postecoglou changes his ways a bit.
They are too open and too easy to remove.
They’ve had a lot of injuries this season and that has to be taken into account, but it’s not like they’re watertight when they’ve got Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven fit, right? They still score too many goals.
It will be interesting to see if Daniel Levy sticks with Postecoglou. You just never know what he’s going to do.
I guess when people ask what’s up with Spurs, then Levy has to enter the conversation.
How many managers have you hired that failed? The only success story was Mauricio Pochettino and Levy sacked him shortly after taking the club to a Champions League final because he felt he could improve.
That didn’t turn out very well did it…
