Former Arsenal striker Ian Wright called on the club’s board to back Mikel Arteta in the transfer market in January.
Arteta’s team dropped more points on Saturday, throwing away a 2-0 lead to draw at home to Aston Villa. With Liverpool claiming a late win at Brentford earlier the same day, Arsenal are six points adrift of the league leaders having played a game more.
The London side spent the best part of £100million over the summer, though £27m of that went towards making David Raya’s loan move permanent. Riccardo Calafiori and Mikel Merino were the only other senior addiitons to join for a fee, and a series of injuries have left the Gunners’ title hopes hanging by a thread.
Bukayo Saka has begun a lengthy spell on the sidelines after hamstring surgery, while defenders Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu have missed much of the campaign. With less than two weeks of the January transfer window remaining, the higher-ups need to decide whether or not to give Arteta the resources to add to his ranks.
“Unfortunately for me again, I’ll say I think the manager needs a lot of help from the board now,” Wright told Premier League Productions. “I don’t think he can do very much more with what he’s got, otherwise there’s no way you’ll continue to use Thomas Partey at right-back if you’ve got options, and he needs options, attacking and defending.
“We are very close to it being in danger of it fizzling out. In the next couple of games if it doesn’t happen, if they don’t bring someone in to give them a boost because you could see they looked a bit tired. I think mentally and physically they look very tired, it’s something I can’t emphasise enough how much we need help now, we need players.”
When asked if Arsenal can catch Liverpool, he added: “If we’ve got any chance of wanting to be in this race something has got to happen in these last couple of weeks of this transfer window because with the players he’s got at this moment and the injuries he’s got, it can’t happen, not with the way Liverpool are playing, not with the way they’re going about their business.”
Who should Arsenal sign in January? Have your say in the comments section
Arsenal boss Arteta was pleased with his depleted team’s performance against Villa, even if they couldn’t hold on for victory. Midfielders Thomas Partey and Myles Lewis Skelly started at full-back, with three untested academy players on the bench.
“We were unbelievable,” Arteta told BBC Sport. “So proud of the way we played, how dominant, how fluid we were and how much we put into it.
“We played three games in six days. So proud of them, but at the same time so disappointed. We deserve more. We didn’t get it, and we are sad because of that.”
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