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Mikel Arteta responds when asked whether Mikel Merino will play up front for Arsenal against West Ham
Arsenal have the opportunity of closing the gap at the Premier League summit to five points when they host West Ham United on Saturday.
The Gunners have kept themselves in contention for the Premier League title with recent wins against Manchester City and Leicester City.
Mikel Merino was the talk of the town after Arsenal’s 2-0 win against the Foxes, coming off the bench to lead the line and scoring a brace.
Mikel Arteta only told Merino he’d be playing up front for Arsenal on the morning of the Leicester game, the player confirmed after the match.
Arteta then revealed that he confidently told Merino he would score when he came off the bench, which proved to be an accurate prediction.
Ahead of Arsenal’s meeting with West Ham, Arteta responded when asked whether Merino could start up front for the Gunners.
Mikel Arteta coy on prospect of Mikel Merino starting up front for Arsenal against West Ham
Arteta gave nothing away on the prospect of Merino starting up front, preferring to keep the opposition – and indeed, his own players – guessing.
However, he suggested he’s more than willing to do so, implying Merino and the players around him are “comfortable” with it.
When asked whether he would be prepared to start Merino up front, Arteta replied, as per : “Well, I think, obviously, every time you play a player, you are betting on that player.
“What is that bet? I’m prepared to bet a certain amount of money to earn a lot and not to bet a lot to earn very little.
“At the end, that’s by putting players in positions and in roles and surrounding our players that we believe it makes sense, and it can work and they are comfortable with it.”
When asked whether Merino had been training as a striker, the Arsenal boss replied: “We trained the last few weeks with different players. He’s been one of them. With other players as well.
“It’s not only how you can finish a game, how you start a game, how you change if the opponent does something different. Every three days as well, we’re going to need different options.”
Arteta was then asked whether Merino’s brace off the bench would pressure him to give the player a start this time round.
“We believe he was right for that context, but then he made it right,” he replied.
“Starting a game is very different, especially against a team that obviously they have the adaptability to play in different ways, with very different behaviours within different structures that they can use as well.
“And that’s what we have prepared.”
Should Merino start against West Ham, it would be his first Premier League start for Arsenal since the 2-2 draw with Aston Villa on 18 January and his fourth league start of the calendar year.
Who else could feature up front for Arsenal?
Arteta previously said Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Martinelli and Raheem Sterling could all cover up front for Arsenal.
The Arsenal manager also said he academy breakout star Ethan Nwaneri could potentially play at No. 9.
Martinelli is currently on the sidelines, while Sterling has been struggling and so it’s unlikely he’d start up front for the Gunners for the time being.
With that in mind, Trossard is the likeliest option to feature up front for Arsenal at present – he started as the centre-forward against Leicester.