Arsenal
Aston Villa
Chelsea
Crystal Palace
Everton
Fulham
Leeds United
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Newcastle United
Nottingham Forest
Sunderland
Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Opinion
Mikel Arteta might take inspiration from Marouane Fellaini to solve Arsenal striker problem after Kai Havertz injury
Just a week or so after the transfer window closed, Arsenal’s worst fears have been realised – Kai Havertz, their only fit and available striker for the remainder of the season, is now injured.
Havertz pulled up with a hamstring complaint during an Arsenal training session in Dubai, and will now need to be assessed by medical staff back in north London.
Mikel Arteta has already lost Gabriel Jesus for the season and despite wanting the club to recruit a striker in January, one never arrived.
In their quest to win the Premier League or Champions League, Arsenal now need to go on an almost perfect winning run, and they’ll need to do so without a striker.
And if Havertz is missing for a period, it’s currently thought that one of Leandro Trossard, Raheem Sterling or Ethan Nwaneri will be used as a false nine.
However, an alternative solution might actually be considered by Arteta.
Mikel Arteta might be forced to use Mikel Merino as a striker
Whilst it’s unverified, there’s talk that Arteta is considering using summer signing Mikel Merino as a makeshift striker in the case of emergency.
By all accounts, Merino has never played as a striker in his senior career, even if he has scored a couple of goals as an attacking midfielder.
However, the Spaniard has already demonstrated at the Emirates Stadium that he has an eye for a goal, a player also capable of holding up play.
Merino has been criticised at Arsenal, but he’s always looked like a goal threat when he’s played as a left-sided eight.
Now, Arteta might use Merino in a similar capacity to how David Moyes deployed Marouane Fellaini as a target man at Everton and Manchester United.
It’s not an ideal situation by any means, but it’s certainly one that’ll be fascinating to watch for Arsenal fans, should it happen.
And in some respects, Havertz is a false nine being asked to play as a proper number nine, so Merino might be able to mirror some of his success.
Who will replace Kai Havertz at Arsenal?
Of course, it would have been crazy to suggest at the start of the season that Arsenal might turn to Merino as their striker at the ‘business end’ of the campaign.
Arteta has spoken about Nwaneri as a striker, but he will now be needed on the right given the lack of options available to the Arsenal manager.
READ MORE: What Jose Mourinho ‘laughed’ about immediately after Arsenal appointed Mikel Arteta in 2019
Right now, it seems most logical to conclude that Sterling will play on the left, Trossard through the middle and Nwaneri on the right.
However, if there are any doubts about Sterling’s readiness, Trossard could move back out wide with Merino as the nine.
A far from ideal scenario, and one that Arsenal’s decision-makers could have prevented.