Speaking to reporters after Arsenal were held to a 2-2 draw by Aston Villa, the Spaniard claimed he had 'very short' options in attack, with Raheem Sterling being the only fit senior forward on the bench. The North Londoners blew a two-goal lead against Unai Emery's side on Saturday evening.
"When you look at the performances, I don’t know how many teams are playing at this level on the league, but when you look at the bench, probably you say, I think we are very short," Arteta said. "There are moments, obviously. They (Liverpool) managed to do that.
"They made the subs and the subs made the impact - and they managed to change the game. And, in our side, it was the opposite, even though after conceding the two goals very close to each other, the danger was because I knew how the team was we could go downhill because we were physically drained."
Singing from the same hymn sheet, Wright believes that Arsenal must bolster their squad to stay in the title race. Speaking on Premier League Productions, the Gunners legend urged Josh Kroenke – and the rest of the board – to back Arteta in the January transfer window.
"It’s tough for Arsenal, they’re down to the bare bones with what they’re doing," as quoted by Football365. "You look at the bench, there’s not even an attacker on there who has got a Premier League goal this season, it’s very bare.
"You’ve got a midfielder playing right-back. It’s something that’s not really worked out for us, I think we’ve won one game out of six when Thomas Partey has played there, it’s a vulnerable position for us. Unfortunately for me again, I’ll say I think the manager needs a lot of help from the board now.
"I don’t think he can do very much more with what he’s got, otherwise there’s no way you’ll continue to use Thomas Partey at right-back if you’ve got options, and he needs options, attacking and defending."
Wright added: "We are very close to it being in danger of it fizzling out. In the next couple of games if it doesn’t happen, if they don’t bring someone in to give them a boost because you could see they looked a bit tired.
"We are very close to it being in danger of it fizzling out. In the next couple of games if it doesn’t happen, if they don’t bring someone in to give them a boost because you could see they looked a bit tired."
When asked if Arsenal have any chance of rivalling Liverpool for the title if they don't strengthen this month, Wright replied: "Not with the way we’re playing at the moment, not with the players we’ve got, look at the bench.
"We’ve got Myles Lewis-Skelly coming in at left-back doing unbelievably, I have to mention the summer window bringing in [Mikel] Merino and [Riccardo] Calafiori, unfortunately Calafiori has been injured, Merino… it’s not quite happened for him in a season where we really need people to hit the ground running.
"Then you’ve got a youngster in Myles Lewis-Skelly who has come in and showed he could play that position, so could we have used that money in a way, we’ve needed a striker for a few years now. Those are the things I’m sure Arsenal fans will be thinking about.
"But those are the things we have to be thinking about now because if we’ve got any chance of wanting to be in this race something has got to happen in these last couple of weeks of this transfer window because with the players he’s got at this moment and the injuries he’s got, it can’t happen, not with the way Liverpool are playing, not with the way they’re going about their business."
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