Mikel Arteta is wrong – and Arsenal risk Premier League title if they don't act

29 December 2023 , 10:16

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Mikel Arteta needs a new striker (Image: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Arsenal had 30 shots against West Ham, eight of which were on target, but failed to score in a damaging first home defeat of the season.

Mikel Arteta insisted afterwards that he wasn’t concerned. “It’s what it is,” he said. “We have to try to generate [chances]. If we don’t score with 30 shots, then we have to do 50 or 60 to try to score. That’s the only thing. I can’t imagine a game where we have more touches in the box, more dominance and less situations for the opponent.”

He appears to be suggesting that it was a freak result – an anomaly – the kind of result which makes the low-scoring sport of football such a compelling spectacle. And there was some evidence of that reading of the game: Bukayo Saka hitting the post, Alphonse Areola making a few decent stops.

But to write the match off as a simple piece of poor luck would be to overlook the glaring warning signs. There was a point in the second half, as Arsenal flooded the box pushing desperately for a way back in, when Gabriel Jesus sent two headers off target from good positions.

To Arteta the wasted opportunities may well have been evidence of the frustrating nature of the game. But to many observers they were evidence of a cold truth: that Jesus simply isn’t good enough in front of goal for a top side.

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The Brazilian has many, many qualities. He fits Arteta’s playing style superbly, right up until the bit where he is asked to find the back of the net. Jesus has struggled with injuries, but three goals in 917 minutes of Premier League football this season is a meagre return – and one which is actively harming his team’s chances of winning a first Premier League title in 20 seasons.

Jesus is not the only person to blame, of course. Bukayo Saka has five league goals, while Gabriel Martinelli has just two from the opposite flank. The fact that back-up striker Eddie Nketiah is the team’s joint top-scorer in the Premier League with five – three of which came in a 5-0 thrashing of Sheffield United – shows the extent of the issue up front.

Gabriel Jesus missed some good chances against West Ham (Marc Atkins/Getty Images)

Felix Keith