Arsenal are still in the hunt to end their five-year Champions League exile - but after a disappointing January transfer window, Mikel Arteta's depleted squad will have to do it the hard way.
The Gunners failed to snap up the elite No.9 that Arteta craved after they were gazumped by Juventus in the race for Dusan Vlahovic.
That search will rumble on into the summer, but Arsenal also have big decisions to make over their remaining strikers, with both Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah due to be free agents at the end of the season.
Lacazette's future, in particular, is intriguing.
The Frenchman was handed the captain's armband after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was allowed to quit the club in the final hours of the transfer window.
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And while there has been no concrete confirmation that the Gunners are set to offer him fresh terms, he has emerged to play an important role in the team in recent weeks.
However, Arteta still has a big decision to make over the 30-year-old.
If the Spaniard does have designs on guiding the Gunners back to the upper echelons of the Premier League, then the Londoners simply can't afford to skimp on quality up front.
Arsenal need an out-and-out goalscorer; Lacazette is many things, but he isn't that.
Since he arrived at the Emirates Stadium back in 2017, Lacazette has reached double figures in the league every season - but only just.
His highest ever Premier League tally for the Gunners remains the 14 goals that he plundered during his maiden season in the capital.
Quite frankly, that isn't going to cut it if Arsenal are to eventually realise the title ambitions that Arteta harbours.
The game has changed since the Gunners last lifted the Premier League crown; something that Arteta alluded to ahead of Sunday's crunch clash with Watford.
“I don’t know what is going to happen at the end of the season, we will discuss it and try to assess and make a plan that can work financially, that can be sustainable and obviously that has a huge impact on the team,” Arteta said.
“Because every window has to be a way and form for us to take the club to the next level.
“Hopefully we are on the right road but we’re not there. And obviously we are on a road that is much quicker and wider than before because the teams here used to win the league with 85, 86 points.
“Now to win the league you might need 100 points so that’s a different dimension of a league.”
It's been a long time since Arsenal got anywhere near a tally like that.
And with Lacazette leading the line, that's not going to change anytime soon.
It's clear that he isn't prolific enough to spearhead a title challenge.
With Lacazette approaching his prime years, it's highly unlikely that he'd be content with a supporting role in Arteta's project. And with his lavish wage demands, he's far too expensive to keep as a secondary option anyway.
It increasingly feels like the best option for all parties would be a mutual departure in the summer - even if that will ramp up the pressure even more on Arteta and Arsenal to nail their striker search.
