Arsenal don't need a striker: they desperately need to fix their midfield

Arsenal fans have been shouting about needing an elite striker all season. If any of them had been dual-screening the Manchester City tie in the last week, they'd have seen Erling Haaland struggling just as much as Kai Havertz.

The Gunners' feeble exit from the Champions League will be dissected for months – and there are clear weaknesses that Mikel Arteta has left exposed. A lack of experience from this group cost them in key moments; likewise, the Basque boss has failed to rotate beyond 14 or 15 regular starters, leaving the core of his squad knackered – though injury issues have prevented him from integrating more fringe stars. 

But while supporters will point to their inability to get shots away against Bayern Munich, the problems with the Gunners' setup runs far deeper than just signing a top-level striker. 

Arsenal's midfield has been dyfunctional at times this season

It's not easy to beat Arsenal – but it's simple. A well-regimented mid-block has been their Achilles heel not just against Bayern over two legs but in the previous round against Porto. It was a problem against Aston Villa at the weekend. It's how Fulham got four points from six against the Gunners this season.

Last season, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli got 15 league goals a-piece. This season, they've been double-marked – more than usual – and left isolated on the touchlines. Arteta wants them out there to leave space for Martin Odegaard and his fellow No.8 (whether that's Havertz, Trossard or Rice) to steamroll through the middle. But Arsenal struggle to penetrate through the centre of the pitch when they play Rice and Jorginho as a double-pivot.

Odegaard helps with that when he drops deep to help with buildup. Ben White can overlap Saka to help create space. But Martinelli is neglected on the left wing, with no overlapping full-back, no overlapping midfielder and no forward willing to drift out to his flank to allow him to break inside. 

When Emile Smith Rowe came on against Villa, he created more space for Saka than he usually gets alongside Odegaard. Martinelli hasn't had anywhere near that space all season, either. 

Whatever Mikel Arteta does, the answer lies in midfield

Arsenal have looked best with very particular dynamics this season: White overlapping, Odegaard drifting, Havertz combining from centre-forward and Jorginho and Rice keeping the structure of the midfield. 

Martinelli needs a passer next to him, as the left-sided No.8, who can overlap him and combine with him out there. That could be someone like Granit Xhaka, Fabio Vieira – who started when Martinelli scored against Everton earlier on this season, later ruled out for offside – or even Odegaard. Whoever plays as the right-sided No.8 needs to create space for Saka, whether that's Odegaard dropping deeper or Smith Rowe overlapping. And whoever plays deepest in midfield needs to be able to progress play through a midblock. 

There's no one answer. For certain situations, Rice could anchor, Odegaard could assist him deeper to the right (giving Saka his space, with White overlapping), leaving Vieira further ahead on the left. In other games, Saka might need Smith Rowe alongside him on the right, forcing Odegaard to the left to provide Martinelli with the support he needs left and an inverted full-back to support Rice with progressing play through the block. 

There are options – so why doesn't Arteta use them?

It's almost certain that Arsenal will sign a midfielder to fix this problem

Because that's not Arteta's philosophy.

The Arsenal manager has gone from suggesting that a midfield of Rice, Havertz and Odegaard will look better after 55 games to Arsenal abandoning summer plans to sign a striker because they see Havertz as that man. It's almost certain that Arteta signed him as a solve-all replacement for Granit Xhaka – to help in buildup, overlap Martinelli, make late runs into the box and use his physicality in midfield – only for him to reassess and decide Havertz is actually a centre-forward. 

Arteta's philosophy, by and large, is not to have different tactics for different games. He wants to impose his philosophy onto every team he faces with his first-choice XI, with a suitable backup ready to step up in each position. He will fix things in-game if he needs to: but this is an Arsenal side that have been developed to solve every problem they face with the personnel out there. 

The likely answer to these midfield woes is to sign a player who sorts all of them – rather than using horses for courses. Smith Rowe and Vieira are useful in certain scenarios but Arteta would rather sign a complete footballer who can assist Rice deep, offer physicality in the midfield, overlap his winger and combine/create space for the winger on their side. It also explains why Jorginho hasn't signed a new deal yet.

So after a season of Arsenal fans asking for a striker, it seems as if Arteta brought one in 12 months ago, in Havertz. Now, attention turns to midfield: is that Bayer Leverkusen No.34 available, do we know? 

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