Newcastle ran out 1-0 winners on Tyneside, courtesy of a 12th minute header from Alexander Isak, who guided a pinpoint cross from Anthony Gordon beyond David Raya. The result meant Arsenal ended the weekend outside the top four, five points behind champions Manchester City and seven adrift of league leaders Liverpool.
The outcome also extended the North Londoners' winless streak in the Premier League to three games, having scored just twice in those three matches. While Kai Havertz started the new season in prolific form, the German hasn't netted since prior to the latest international break, prompting Sutton to question Arsenal's decision not to acquire a new number nine in the summer transfer window.
Sutton: Arsenal Should Have Signed Striker
Goals have dried up for the Gunners
Kai Havertz celebrates a goal against PSG in the Champions League
With Havertz ending the 2023/24 season in fine goal-scoring form, and as Arsenal's first choice striker, the Gunners ultimately ended up not landing a new man up front. However, Arteta and Edu had attempted to sign RB Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko, who decided to stay in Germany to continue his gradual development.
Ten league matches into the new campaign, and Havertz, Trossard and Gabriel Jesus have just six league goals between them, sparking discourse around Arsenal's choice not to aggressively pursue an alternative to Sesko in the summer. Commenting on the situation on the BBC's Monday Night Club, former Norwich City striker turned pundit Sutton said:
"It's the center forward, isn't it? We've spoken about this many times. Gabriel Jesus, watching Arsenal when I covered them in the Champions League against Shakhtar, played off the right. He's not a natural finisher. He does a lot of good things, but you look at their centre-forwards, Arsenal play more often, they do a 4-4-2, they're playing Havertz and Trossard, who are not natural centre-forwards. They're good footballers, but they're sort of in between.
So the debate is, should Arsenal have signed a striker last season, but they spread the goals last season, and that was a positive thing. And I get that, but I suppose this season, when they look like they've dried up a bit, that's when the argument that you need a goalscorer, a natural finisher there.
I think that stands, and that's an area where Arsenal fans would be thinking, well, blimey, maybe we should have gone big in the summer on a recognised centre-forward."
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