Arsenal: 4 vital transfers to complete before deadline

4. A Striker With Presence

Just as Folarin Balogun was prematurely heralded over his brief Europa League outings, it would be wholly unjust to judge him after Friday’s unfortunate debut. Muscled out of the game and left to feed off scraps, what can be deduced is that he will need more minutes.

Those should come elsewhere.

Flo will be a brilliant top-flight striker one day and en route to that end, he has to be playing regularly. Is that going to be against Chelsea? No, if Aubameyang or Lacazette are fit they will come in to the side, leaving Flo to stew over a performance that he can’t build on.

Send him out on loan, sell Lacazette and buy a centre-forward that scares the opposition. In the same way that Ivan Toney rattled Pablo Mari and had Ben White beaten in the air all night, Arsenal need to put central defenders under pressure.

Do Lacazette or Aubameyang strike fear into those they play against? No. The latter can if used properly, but those days appear to be past him.

Being bullied across the park, it was an easy night for the Brentford back three. Flo will come good but he needs to be playing every week to build momentum. Considering he won’t get that at Arsenal, decisions need to be made.

Will Arsenal see to all of their needs? Highly doubtful. The expenditure already parted with coupled with Odegaard’s fee and the lack of sales makes the dreams of multiple signings just that: dreams. All we can do is hope.