Arsenal: 3 striker options enough for next season?

Are Gabriel Martinelli and Folarin Balogun Enough for Arsenal at No. 9?

With no midweek football other than the occasional Carabao Cup and FA Cup clash, Aubameyang will be a 38-game striker next season. His sole focus will be on weekly Premier League outings.

Except, that is, for the Africa Cup of Nations. The competition will take place over four weeks from January 9 to February 6, with Aubameyang’s Gabon having qualified for the group stages. There is talk of AFCON being cancelled or postponed due to fears over COVID-19 in Cameroon but as of yet nothing is final.

Gabon may not reach the final, but they also might. However long Aubameyang is gone for he will nonetheless be absent. In his stead Gabriel Martinelli would likely to be the next in line, with Balogun as third choice.

So far Martinelli is yet to nail down the centre-forward role, which is as expected given his age and lack of experience there under Arteta, but there is no doubting his quality. When Aubameyang departs he will fly the flag, even if nothing yet is convincingly stating he’s better through the middle than out wide.

While Balogun will have had his chance in cup competitions to continue showing off his class, he is still only 19 and it’s far too soon for him to be starting Premier League matches; not least because Arteta will not be taking that risk. We can talk about winter when AFCON comes around but it may be the case that the manager isn’t even in a job by then.

Start the season poorly and he’s gone. He’ll select Aubameyang every week for the same reason he won’t select William Saliba every week. Arsenal have Martinelli and Balogun down for the future and despite the faith in both, Arteta will woe the idea of an injured Aubameyang leaving him with those two options – this was a manager who kept Nketiah in January to stay as third choice and still played Emile Smith Rowe at false nine ahead of him, so he does fear potential outcomes.

Fortunately Aubameyang is immune to injury – touch wood – thus Arteta is unlikely to rotate the captain in the league. He won’t make that call and won’t feel he needs to with seven days’ rest in between fixtures.

He shouldn’t have to worry, though. Starting the season with those three options is enough. Martinelli will get pre-season in the position to aid his development there and be fit and firing for next season; Balogun will only play fleetingly, but there is definite scope for him to even stay on for six months and then at the end of January find a club on loan to see the season out and get regular minutes depending on Aubameyang’s AFCON involvement.

Aubameyang will start scoring again with a stronger midfield behind him and Martinelli is electric wherever he plays – no concerns over him at all. Add young Balogun to pick up minutes where he can and both the numbers and quality will suffice.