Arsenal draw with Liverpool in thoroughly entertaining clash of titans
Despite missing a host of key players in William Saliba, Riccardo Calafiori and captain Martin Odegaard, Arteta very nearly came away from the Emirates Stadium with a victory over high-flying Liverpool on Sunday.
Transfer expert: Arsenal weighing up bid to sign £45,000-p/w ace in January
Bukayo Saka, despite reports in the build up suggesting he looked set to miss their face-off with Arne Slot's side, was deemed fit to play and opened the scoring with an excellent finish into the roof of the net.
Virgil van Dijk equalised just under 10 minutes later, but it didn't take long for the home side to seize back an advantage through summer signing Mikel Merino's diving header.
They held a 2-1 lead for the majority of the second period, with Liverpool superstar Mohammed Salah unfortunately leveling the score just nine minutes from full-time.
Whilst Kiwior's lack of awareness arguably led to Salah's equaliser, which squandered the advantage, it was an impressive outing overall by the north Londoners considering they were forced to field a weakened team - with Thomas Partey also playing at right-back so Ben White could fill in for Saliba.
Partey-Havertz-White-Arsenal-Liverpool
Arsenal didn't really have a potent attacking option to call upon in place of Kai Havertz, either, with striker Gabriel Jesus misfiring so far this term and yet to get off the mark in all competitions.
This has led to reports that Edu is looking to sign a striker in January, and pundit Richards has now had his say on the matter.
Richards urges Arsenal to sign striker for Arteta
Speaking on the Rest of Football podcast, Richards urged Edu to sign a striker for Arsenal, to ease the reliance on Jesus and take some of the pressure off Havertz's shoulders to lead the line, as the club continue their quest for a first Premier League title in over two decades.
"It’s how adaptable Arsenal are. You see [Thomas] Partey playing right-back, Timber playing left-back," said Richards.
"Without key players they still managed to find a way. If they want a low block, if they want to counter-attack and still cause problems.
"People question their mentality in terms of how they want to play but I always give a manager credit if they’re able to adapt to what the game needs and Arteta did that really well.
"I think it’s just frustrating for him [Arteta], you bring in Jesus as this striker, winger, forward whatever you want to call him and he’s not contributing enough in terms of goal threat. Maybe another forward [needs to be signed] just to help him out, relieve some of that pressure on [Kai] Havertz."
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