Arsenal: Please let this be what turns Henrikh Mkhitaryan around

Arsenal’s primary strength this year has come from the depth of their attack, but Henrikh Mkhitaryan needs a turnaround to uphold that strength.

I keep trying to pretend like scrounging a point against Wolverhampton is a good thing for Arsenal, but honestly, the only good part about it is that it preserves the 16 match unbeaten streak. Sure, a point is better than none, especially an undeserved point like this one was, but at the end of the day, it’s the performance of the team that was the true let down.

Again, we saw that the primary strength that this club is supposed to have – depth in the attack – was lacking. Not just lacking, but nonexistent. Ozil, Lacazette and Aubameyang were all pretty futile in their attempts to do anything and Alex Iwobi, arguably the only source of optimism in the attack, was taken off at half.

It became clear that whatever success was going to be found would have to come from the introduction of Aaron Ramsey and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who were meant to express this “depth in the attack” that has made the club so special.

But that depth isn’t what it once was. With Welbeck out for a long time, Ramsey halfway out the door and Mkhitaryan struggling like he’s Yaya Sanogo, there isn’t a lot of depth to choose from. We really, really need Mkhitaryan to turn it around.

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He has had his chances, and he has squandered those chances. He has been left frustrated and he has been left unlucky. But against Wolverhampton, he was left incredibly lucky, as his fluttering cross went untouched into the back corner to complete baffle a frozen Patricio.

Nobody expected it to go in until it did, and Mkhitaryan is included in that ‘nobody.’ But as has often been the case, a little stroke of good fortune can often inject a little confidence into a player desperately needing of it. And that desperate player is Mkhitaryan.

I got no indication that a switch had suddenly been flipped inside of him from the remaining minutes of the match but I hope that when we come back from international break, that Mkhitaryan will look like his positive self again. This club sorely needs to start finding game-changing options like they’ve had in the past because they just don’t have them right now.

I’d hate to rely on the January transfer window to solve things when the solution can be found internally.