Gary Neville thought Declan Rice could be a surprise solution to Arsenal’s striker problem, but says the club should never have allowed themselves to be so short up front.
The Gunners are in something of an injury crisis in attack, with Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus both out for the season.
Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli are also sidelined, meaning Mikel Arteta’s front line is extremely stretched.
Arsenal won 2-0 at Leicester on Saturday, with a starting front three of Ethan Nwaneri, Leandro Trossard and Raheem Sterling, however, it was Mikel Merino coming off the bench who scored the two goals late on.
The Spaniard is a midfielder who had never played up front before but took his chances impressively and may well be asked to fill in as a striker again.
Neville thought, somewhat surprisingly, that Rice may have been the answer to Arteta’s problems, which he says were always a possibility and should have been solved in the transfer market before it came to this.
‘They’re going to have to come up with something. I’ve got very little sympathy for Arsenal,’ Neville told Sky Sports. ‘They knew at the start of the season that they were short at centre-forward. They knew if Havertz got injured that they didn’t have the quality up top.
‘They’ve also had two title races so they know what it’s like. This is not an inexperienced team anymore, it’s not an inexperienced manager.
‘Did you know that this could have happened before the start of the season? Yeah. Could it have been foreseen? Yes it could.
This could have always happened and it has happened.
‘I thought it might be Declan Rice coming from behind from midfield and Jorginho and Partey might be deeper, or even Merino and Partey deeper. But it’s ended up that Merino has gone forward and been the threat in the box.
‘Sometimes good can come out from what seems to be bad and you can develop something together.’
Neville is not convinced that the win over the Foxes means Arsenal have found a solution and predicts a tricky time ahead for them.
‘It’s going to be tough for Arsenal, they were playing against Leicester who are in the bottom three and they’re going to have tough games coming up,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t say it’s plain sailing because they scored with 10 minutes to go.
‘They have to find a way. No excuses. When you’ve been in a title race for two years on the bounce, spent hundreds of millions, you knew you had a slight weakness at centre-forward, you can’t act all surprised and feel sorry for yourself. It’s not the way it can be and I’m sure Mikel Arteta’s not feeling that way either.’
Merino admitted that it came as a surprise to be thrown on up front, having never filled the role before.
‘He [Arteta] told me I was going to come in as a striker,’ said Merino when asked about his new position.
‘We were talking about it this morning a little bit with one of the assistants. Honestly, it was a surprise because it was the first time in my career that I played in that position but he told me to play as a striker, make sure I go with my strengths and I think luckily I helped the team today.’
Arsenal host West Ham in their next Premier League outing before trips to Nottingham Forest and Manchester United.