Mikel Arteta needs more attacking ideas to win the Premier League

Arsenal’s season is slipping through their fingers. The Gunners are six points behind Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table and must overturn a 2-0 deficit to overcome Newcastle United and reach the Carabao Cup final. Mikel Arteta and his players are facing an increasing number of questions about their performances and results.

The home defeat to Newcastle on Tuesday provided a microcosm of Arsenal’s flaws as a team. They created 3.09 Expected Goals (xG) from 23 shots, but failed to find the back of the net as the Magpies produced a more clinical performance to claim a 2-0 victory to take back to St James’ Park for the second leg.

“Nothing, just try and show them and give them tips of what we can do better,” said Arteta when asked what he could do about his team’s issues in front of goal. “I think we kicked a lot of the balls over the bar and it’s tricky that this ball flies a lot. We discussed that as well, so there are details that we can do better.”

Defensively, nobody can question Arsenal’s strength. No other team has conceded fewer goals (18) in the Premier League this season than the Gunners. Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba have forged the strongest centre back partnership in the division with David Raya one of the league’s best goalkeepers.

Tactically, Arsenal are well-drilled at the back and have the personnel to keep out even the strongest opposition attacks. This is the foundation upon which Arteta has built his team over the past three seasons with the Gunners coming agonisingly close to winning the Premier League in 2022/23 and 2023/24.

This season, though, there has been a regression and it’s easy to point to the attack to explain this. Arsenal have drawn a blank in two of their last four home games in all competitions. In tight games where the Gunners require a sharper cutting edge to make the difference, they have been found lacking.

The contrast between Kai Havertz and Alexander Isak as Newcastle won on Tuesday was stark. While Newcastle’s in-form Swedish striker took his opportunity to find the back of the net and posed a threat throughout with his movement, Havertz spurned a number of chances and looked bereft of confidence by the end of the match.

Of course, much of Arsenal’s recent attacking struggles can be attributed to the absence of Bukayo Saka. The winger is currently sidelined through injury and isn’t expected to be back in the team until February at the earliest. This comes after Martin Odegaard missed two months of the season. 

Any team would find life harder without a player of Saka’s quality, but his absence has highlighted how Arteta must develop more attacking ideas for Arsenal to take the next step under his stewardship. Defences might win titles, as the old cliche goes, but Arsenal need a sharper attack to win more matches.

Many argue this means Arsenal should move for a new centre forward. Victor Osimhen has been linked with the Gunners in the past and could be lured to North London from his loan spell at Galatasaray. Dusan Vlahovic is another top-level striker who could be available in the January transfer window.

Others claim it’s a new left winger Arsenal need. Nico Williams is believed to be a long-term target and there’s no doubt the addition of the Euro 2024 winner would give the Gunners a different dimension in the attacking third. However, Athletic Club will command a transfer fee of over €60m for their prize asset. Do Arsenal have that sort of money to spend this month?

It could be the case that Arteta needs to experiment with some new attacking concepts to get Arsenal scoring again. Could Havertz and Gabriel Jesus operate as a front two? Could Arteta add some width in the full back positions to stretch opposition defences and create more central space for his attackers?

While Arsenal have undeniably made great progress under Arteta, they appear to be at a crossroads with the Spanish manager in charge. The title race might be over for the Gunners, but the way Arteta responds to his team’s recent setbacks could determine how the future looks for him and his team.