Brentford 1-3 Arsenal: Mikel Arteta finds balance in his squad without Bukaya Saka, but do Gunners still need a new striker? | Football news

One-nil down, the talisman injured, an illness running through the team and drifting further and further into the title race. For half an hour, Arsenal felt the cold in Brentford.

The usual questions swirled when Bryan Mbeumo put the Bees 1-0 up, with Arsenal going more than a quarter of the game without a shot on target and without a return to Premier League away victory in nearly two years.

Are Arsenal good enough as they are to keep up with Liverpool? Is a striker needed in the January transfer window? Is Mbeumo even that player?

An hour and three goals later and Arsenal have shrugged off some of those questions, although they have continued to be asked – particularly about whether Arteta’s squad is short on numbers.

“When I see the willingness of the team to play through anything, the versatility that we can create within ourselves to play with our own idea, the answer is no,” Arteta said.

“But we don’t know if something else happens or we’ll have other problems. We hope not. We hope we’ll have people back. We need everyone.”

The reasons why Arteta is so unwavering in his confidence in this team showed against Brentford. For the first time in a long time, there seemed to be balance in his team.

Normally, Arsenal are so loaded down the right that almost 50 percent of their attacks go down the flank where Bukayo Saka is normally. The win over Brentford saw the Gunners much more dangerous in all areas, almost evenly distributed between each line of attack.

Part of that is due to the form of their two Brazilians. Gabriel Jesus has six goals in his last four games – one more than he scored in his previous 48 games.

On top of that, the positive introduction of Ethan Nwaneri looked better than the right-sided option the Gunners had against Ipswich five days earlier.

But it’s the form of Gabriel Martinelli that has come out of nowhere, especially in the absence of Saka at the other end.

The Brazilian scored 15 goals in the Premier League in the 2022-2023 season, but the barren streak has yet to come to an end. His tally of four goals in three games is more than he had scored in his previous 26 games. Did something click or is there something simpler?

Martinelli has a bit more stability behind him. It was the first time Martinelli started Riccardo Calafiori and Mikel Merino on the left for Arsenal – two players Arteta bought in the summer to try and improve the squad.

Both Calafiori and Merino are permanent, natural left-backs, while Arsenal have been chopping and changing different players in those specific positions. Oleksandr Zinchenko and Myles Lewis-Skelly are inverted left-backs, while Jakub Kiwior and Kieran Tierney have struggled for form and minutes.

Calafiori is the more natural option that Arteta actually wants and looks for, same with Merino in midfield compared to Declan Rice and Jorginho. “We believe that with the unit on the left we can have the dynamic we wanted,” Arteta said of the Spanish midfielder.

Comparisons have rightly been made between the Spaniard and Granit Xhaka, a midfielder alongside Martinelli when he hit double figures in the Premier League for Arsenal.

With those combinations behind him, Martinelli looks like a completely different player. He created more chances than anyone on the pitch against Brentford – even more than every single player in Arsenal’s opposition.

Where Merino also helps is with duel-winning abilities and set-pieces, showing both in Arsenal’s second goal in west London – his second for the club, both coming from dead-ball situations.

Arsenal’s efficiency from corners, in particular, isn’t that much of a surprise considering Arteta wasn’t even asked about stoppages after the game. It was their 25th corner since the start of last season – no single player has managed that many.

“It is a great quality of our team, to share the goals,” added Arteta. “We did it again today, scoring in three very different ways. Great. That’s what we need.”

So if Arsenal maintain this balance and continue to spread targets around the squad, they may not be as short as they seem.

A prolific new striker would no doubt help matters, but Arteta’s side have shown before they can embark on the post-Christmas run necessary to win the title without the addition of January.

Watch Brighton v Arsenal live on Sky Sports Premier League this Saturday from 5pm; start at 5:30 p.m