Mikel Arteta sticks with controversial front three after Arsenal’s disappointing defeat against West Ham… as Raheem Sterling is benched AGAIN for trip to Nottingham Forest
Arsenal midfielder Mikel Merino has again been trusted to lead the line for Mikel Arteta despite the experiment failing miserably against West Ham last weekend.
Merino, who is a central midfielder by trade, started at No 9 for Arsenal against the Hammers after scoring twice off the bench during his side’s 2-0 win over Leicester City at the King Power Stadium earlier this month.
Arteta has been forced to improvise in attack of late with Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli all injured during this decisive stage of the Premier League campaign.
With Merino at centre forward, Arsenal ultimately struggled both to create and take sufficient opportunities against Graham Potter’s West Ham and suffered a huge blow in the title race after a 1-0 defeat at the Emirates.
However, despite their attack proving toothless against the Hammers, Arteta has doubled down on the strategy against high-flying Nottingham Forest, who sit six points behind in third place.
His decision means former England forward Raheem Sterling starts on the bench again at the City Ground, with Leandro Trossard and Ethan Nwaneri partnering Merino in attack.
Arsenal midfielder Mikel Merino (above) has again been trusted to lead the line for Mikel Arteta
The experiment of playing Merino at No 9 ultimately failed in Arsenal’s defeat by West Ham
The decision means ex-England forward Raheem Sterling starts on the bench again at Forest
Arteta insisted ahead of Wednesday’s match that he will give up chasing the Premier League title ‘over my dead body’ after slipping 11 points behind Liverpool — but believes Arsenal have done well to be above midtable because of injuries and red cards.
He said: ‘If somebody tells you at the start of the season, by this time, you have played five times with a red card over half an hour in each of those games, and you have lost this amount of players, what’s the bet?
‘You are in the middle of the table, at least, and you are out of the Champions League. That’s not the situation.
‘So that tells you the resilience, the resources, the ambition that the team has, every individual has and that has been, probably in my time, one of the proudest moments to work in that sense.
‘The thing is that when you are there, you want more and you want more and you want more. And I’m not going to stop over my dead body.
‘We’ll stop thinking that way and putting everything in that we possibly can to increase the probability of us winning and being better than the opponent and hitting that performance and those standards constantly, regardless of what happens.’
Arsenal XI vs Nottingham Forest: David Raya, Jurrien Timber, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Riccardo Calafiori, Jorginho, Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard, Ethan Nwaneri, Leandro Trossard, Mikel Merino.
More to follow.
