Arsenal latest as boss Mikel Arteta admits ‘we are short’ in key areas amid lack of signings and injury crisis

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Arsenal's season is at a standstill, and Mikel Arteta faces criticism as hopes of silverware fade. Despite opportunities in the transfer window, he's failed to address the squad's depth issues, exposed by key injuries. Inconsistent performances have left fans frustrated, with many questioning his ability. As the January window nears closure, are Arsenal able to make any progress towards a new player? We're looking at the situation amongst fans and Arteta's thoughts on the club's struggles.

Transcript

00:00What's the latest transfer news?

00:02And just looking at the latest transfer news, obviously it's been a bit of a shadow over

00:09Arsenal for the last few seasons really, that they are really searching for that big number

00:14nine that's going to supply them a lot of goals. Obviously, the sort of Alexander Izak-esque,

00:18who actually scored at the Emirates against them in that cup tie first leg. They tried

00:26to replace him with that sort of vacant position with Kai Havertz. It's not really worked.

00:30It's more of a false number nine. And then Gabriel Jesus came in and maybe showed some

00:36positivity, but maybe a bit of a height issue there and a bit of a smaller striker. You

00:41need that target man. The search still goes on. It continues to go on. What's the latest

00:49from Arsenal in terms of the winter transfer window? Is that still a massive position that

00:54they need improving?

00:56Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think everyone knows that Arsenal are just missing that killer

01:00up front. And I also think that's where fans' frustrations lie most, is with the transfer

01:06window. I don't think Arsenal had a particularly good summer transfer window. I think Arsenal

01:11fans were really expecting an attacker to come in and they got Raheem Sterling on deadline

01:17day, which I don't think has gone down well. He's barely played for Arsenal. Raheem Sterling

01:23has been a fantastic player over his career, but he's definitely in the twilight of his

01:26career at the moment. And I think we're three weeks into the January window now, just over

01:34three weeks, and Arsenal still haven't signed a striker with Gabriel Jesus out with an ACL.

01:40He's going to be out for the rest of the season into next season as well. So it really feels

01:46like something the club desperately need. In terms of those kind of players, they've

01:50been heavily linked with Benjamin Sesko, RB Leipzig. But that £70 million price tag

01:57that apparently is on them maybe looks a bit too much for Arsenal to spend in January.

02:03There's been reports of them looking at loans and then maybe trying to go for someone in

02:08the summer. Another player to maybe keep an eye on, I'm not sure he's going to solve that

02:14kind of powerful striker hype problem that you mentioned, but Mathias Kenya at Wolves.

02:21It looked as if he was going to sign a new contract at Wolves. Those contract talks seem

02:26to have stalled a little bit and there has been interest from Arsenal. The club has been

02:30said to have been big admirers of him. So yeah, whether or not they were maybe foundations

02:39led there a little bit before Edu left. I know that Edu really likes to sign Brazilian

02:44players. He's signed a lot of them before. Players like Marquinhos, Martinelli and Willian.

02:54So whether or not groundwork has already been laid there, I'm not sure. That is one to keep

03:01an eye on, Mathias Kenya for sure. I think if Arsenal could maybe get a deal for around

03:07£50 million, maybe they might be tempted. I mean, that does sound quite a lot, I think.

03:12But the problem is that everyone knows Arsenal needs a striker. So those prices are going to

03:18be inflated. That's one to keep an eye on. It's important to maybe point out as well that Arsenal

03:25can't loan anyone from the Premier League this season. They've used their two loans in Neto,

03:31the goalkeeper from Bournemouth, that is still yet to make an appearance for Arsenal. So that

03:36tells you about how well that signing's gone. And Sterling, who is barely being used. So

03:42two players on the books as loans that Arsenal are barely using.

03:47And here's what Mikko Arteta thinks about the current Arsenal transfer situation.

03:53And the Sox made the impact and they managed to change the game. And in our side, it was the

03:59opposite. The team was that we could go downhill because we were physically drained. Suddenly,

04:05the team find another gear to go again and just put the pass from Villa in their box and go and go

04:12again trying to find the goal that we haven't been able to score at the end. Not the result.

04:19When you look at the performances, I don't know how many teams are playing at this level in the

04:24league. But when you look at the bench, probably you say, I think we are very short.

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