Arsenal are in good form as far as the Premier League is concerned, but an injury to Bukayo Saka has come at an inopportune time.
Mikel Arteta's side will be without the England international for “many weeks” after he was forced off in the first half of Saturday's win over Crystal Palace. With a busy January ahead, the Gunners will have to decide whether they have enough cover in the squad and – if not – delve into the market.
After a busy summer that saw the likes of Riccardo Calafiori and Mikel Merino arrive in North London, there could now be movement in the other direction. Aaron Ramsdale was one of the departing players in the summer and there has been talk that Kieran Tierney could be the next senior star to leave.
With Arsenal only playing one game before the New Year, some are already looking ahead to the opening of the transfer window. Here are the latest rules from Mirror Football from the Emirates Stadium.
Mikel Arteta has been working on a contingency plan now that he knows Bukayo Saka will be missing in the coming weeks. However, he did not say whether that plan could include new additions to the squad.
“I'm putting some ideas together,” the Gunners boss said after confirming Saka would be on the sidelines for weeks. 'I'm not there yet, but I have some.
“I also want to talk to them and take it in a positive way. It means that we are going to be different. We went through the period with Martin [Odegaard] and the period with five or six defenders missing. We look at it with positive energy.”
Former Premier League winner Dwight Yorke has called on Arsenal to break the bank to sign Alexander Isak. The Newcastle striker scored a hat-trick at Ipswich on Saturday and Yorke believes he could be a real difference-maker.
“I can't understand why Arsenal hesitated when they had the opportunity to sign Alexander Isak from Real Sociedad,” the former Manchester United star told sportslens.com. “They sat on their hands and Newcastle came in and took him away. That was ridiculous.
“If Arsenal want to win the Premier League title, they need to go to Newcastle and put £100 million on the table for Isak when the January transfer window opens. I think the boy looks really good when I see him play. He does everything He is a threat. He would score so many goals if he played for Arsenal.”
Kieran Tierney may have spent last season on loan, but the Scottish defender did not ask to leave Arsenal. So says Mikel Arteta, who gave the left-back his first Gunners minutes in more than a year during the Carabao Cup quarter-final.
“He didn't come to me and say, 'I want to move,'” Arteta said of the Celts-linked star. “When we had doubts in the past, he would come to me and say, 'I think it's my time to move.' This has not yet been the case.”
Tierney played over an hour against Crystal Palace in the cup, but that remains his only appearance this season after missing the start of the season through injury. However, there are a number of players ahead of him in the pecking order, including youngster Myles Lewis-Skelly.
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