Arsenal legend Ian Wright has urged the club to back Mikel Arteta in the January transfer window to save their season.
Wright’s comments came after Arsenal suffered a 2-0 defeat at home in the first-leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final to Newcastle.
The past month has seen Arsenal drop points to Fulham, Everton and Brighton in the Premier League.
They are six points off leaders Liverpool, though Arne Slot’s side do have a game in hand.
Missed opportunities to close the gap on the Reds have thrown their attacking struggles into the spotlight.
Arsenal’s top scorer in all competitions this season is Kai Havertz with 12. In the Premier League he has 7, which is followed by Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli who have five and Gabriel Jesus one of a number of players to have three.
This compares to Liverpool where Havertz is tied with Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo for goals in all competitions. With Mohamed Salah romping away with 21 goals and a total of 38 goal contributions.
Wright Urges Arsenal To Spend In January Window
Ian Wright believes Arsenal’s struggles in front of goal will continue unless they make a signing in the January transfer window.
“You’ve got to look at the board now,’ the former Gunners striker told ITV. ‘I don’t know what you do but you’ve got to try and do something.”
“Listening to (Newcastle star) Anthony Gordon. Once they go deep Newcastle, they feel there’s not going to be enough that’s going to breach them apart from what we saw with Martinelli and we didn’t see that often enough.
🗣️ "He [Arteta] needs help [in the summer]… If it carries on like this they're going to find it difficult to score."
Do Arsenal need to rebuild their attack? #ITVFootball | #CarabaoCup | @IanWright0 pic.twitter.com/54BOEuQJn7
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) January 7, 2025
“He (Arteta) needs help. I know it’s very difficult to get anything in this January window but he needs something else because if it’s gonna carry on like this, it’s going to be very difficult to score.
“We’re not scoring with the corners, we’re not scoring with the chances we’re making, something needs to change. Something needs to happen.”
Arsenal’s Attacking Problems
Arsenal fans would love to see the club recruit for a new attacker during the January transfer window.
Alexander Isak – who has been linked with the Gunners – showed what they are missing with his goal in the 2-0 victory for Newcastle on Tuesday night.
It remains to be seen whether Arsenal will enter the market this month. However, the injury to Bukayo Saka is something that could make the Gunners want to sign a new attacker.
Ethan Nwaneri has shown promise though he will be out for a few weeks after also suffering an injury.
January isn’t normally the time for big signings. However, both Leandro Trossard and Martin Odegaard did join during the winter window in previous years.
