Ollie Watkins' goal in the 68th minute helped Aston Villa regain 1 point despite being 2 goals behind Arsenal. For the Gunners, this draw could give them a lot of trouble in the Premier League title race.
Arsenal fans may not be patient enough and they want the club to pay for the transfer immediately. Their current squad is simply not strong enough to win the championship.
Looking at Liverpool, coach Arne Slot's team won a dramatic 2-0 victory over Brentford. When the game was at a standstill, Liverpool's substitutes such as Darwin Nunez, Harvey Elliott, Curtis Jones and Federico Chiesa were brought on to turn things around. And finally, Nunez shined brilliantly with a double to bring home 3 important points for The Kop.
When Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta returned to the bench to assess his options, he was left-back Raheem Sterling, left-backs Jorginho, Jakub Kiwior and three other new signings. In particular, Sterling - a player loaned by Arsenal from Chelsea - played extremely disappointingly when entering the field.
"When you look at Arsenal's performance, I don't know how many teams are playing at this level in the Premier League. But when you look at our bench, you probably know that we are lacking people.
There are certainly moments when the team can win thanks to quality substitutes. Liverpool did it, they made substitutions and the replacements had the impact to turn the game around. We don't have that," Arteta admitted.
The absence of William Saliba was the main reason for Arsenal's decline two years ago and the same is happening again. Since the start of the 2022-23 season, Arsenal have conceded 0.8 goals per game for Saliba (85), compared to 1.7 goals per game for the player who has not played (13).
However, Arteta seems to have made the problem worse by not opting for a similar replacement at Kiwior. Instead, he chose to disrupt the squad. Jurrien Timber has been moved to the centre-back position, Thomas Partey has moved to right-back with Declan Rice dropping to take charge of defensive midfield and Mikel Merino has been working as a "number 8" alongside Martin Odegaard.
Arsenal have now dropped 12 points in games in which they have the lead, more than in any season since the 2019-2020 campaign. Worse, this was the first time Arsenal have failed to win a home game in which they had a 2- or more head advantage under Arteta.
Arsenal need more than they currently have to win the title they crave. Therefore, it is time for them to spend money if they do not want to exclaim: price is like!
