3 possible solutions for the Arsenal striker crisis

If this injury rate keeps up, Arsenal might soon be reaching for a Ceefax-like SOS post to salvage their campaign.

January is over but the blues are only just hitting N5 as, up front, Gabriel Martinelli looks set to miss more than a month of first-team action, with Kai Havertz – our only fit striker to this point – now out for the remainder of the season himself.

Their setbacks come as a huge blow and only make the “keep powder dry” transfer approach all the more infuriating for fans. Reports claim that neither Mikel Arteta nor the executive team wanted to add ‘bodies’ unless they advanced our long-term cause, yet such prudence has left any Champions League/Premier League charge at serious risk.

The boss must now make good on his “creative” promise, and here are three potential solutions he can ponder for the striker crisis.  

3 solutions Arsenal could use to solve their striker crisis

Solution #1: Install Leandro Trossard as the striker

Of all the unorthodox ‘answers’ to this predicament, this one would actually be quite obvious and straightforward.   

Leandro Trossard often features on the left wing but he is far from a stranger to the centre-forward role. The Belgium star played there regularly during his Brighton days and almost exclusively so for his final Seagulls games, with his 48 goals in English football to date suggesting he is more than capable of being our no. 9.

Something that is not straightforward, though, is adapting the team to a different CF profile. Trossard represents a strong contrast to Kai Havertz: a small, playmaker-type forward who will not provide that focal point or aerial threat to help us relieve pressure/play over the top of low blocks.

The fact Arteta rarely uses him there – and runs Havertz into the ground – shows just how much he values the German’s alternative qualities.

Even if less than ideal, a Trossard CF berth might be our only viable option.     

Solution #2: Square pegs in round holes

Get ready for ‘false nines’ like you have never seen them before.

A leading contender for this job is Ethan Nwaneri, who himself is just back from injury. Arteta hinted at his capacity to play up front back in December, saying before the 3-2 Carabao Cup win vs Crystal Palace that he boasts a “tremendous ability” to find the net and could potentially be developed into a striker over the next few years.

There is no time like the present, I suppose…

Beyond him, Mikel Merino could also find a new home up top. Moving there would likely not help a man already struggling to adapt to English football, but his scant midfield usage this term makes the idea less disruptive than a Nwaneri shift and he does have the height to try to replicate what Havertz does for the team (I know, I am clutching at straws…).

Stylistically, Arteta may consider one of these options as being more desirable than the Trossard CF proposal.

Solution #3: Turn to Hale End

The boss is never one for a baptism of fire but the frontline carnage is so extreme that he might just need to blood some young players.

Near the head of that particular queue is 22-year-old Nathan Butler-Oyedeji, who has so far recorded one minute of senior action in his career. He made the bench for four of our past five league matches and features regularly on the UCL bench, so perhaps it is just a matter of fast-tracking his integration a small bit.

Butler-Oyedeji is, however, a seasoned performer at youth level (89 appearances for Arsenal between U18s and U21s) and has enjoyed a brilliant campaign to this point, registering one goal contribution or more in all except two of his ten matches for the U21s. His role as captain also indicates he has the temperament to step up.     

Though senior football is very different, his vast underage experience could stand him in good stead and, without wishing to sound like a hopeless romantic, this crisis might just lay the groundwork for his breakthrough moment.

Where is Eddie Nketiah when you need him?

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