Arsenal have wildcard option to cover for injury problems in attack | OneFootball

Gunners have possible left-field solution to help shortage on the wing

But Arteta would not have been thinking that those words could have rung true quite as quickly as they have.

Arsenal’s failure to sign a new forward during the January transfer window was compounded last week when Gabriel Martinelli injured his hamstring in their 2-0 loss at Newcastle.

Martinelli travelled with the squad to their warm-weather training in Dubai and underwent a scan there, with reports saying he will be out of action for at least a month.

It leaves Arteta desperately short on attacking options, given Bukayo Saka is not back until next month due to a hamstring injury and Gabriel Jesus will miss the rest of the season after knee surgery.

“We’re going to have to be very flexible in the frontline and now the ones that we have in our feet, make sure they stay fit and keep contributing,” said Arteta, the day before Martinelli injured his hamstring.

Gabriel Martinelli is facing more than a month out with the hamstring injury he suffered at Newcastle last week

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“At some point, we’re going to have to try something different.”

That point is now. Arsenal have three fit wingers in Ethan Nwaneri Leandro Trossard and Raheem Sterling.

Not for the first time this season, injuries will force the Arsenal manager to get creative.

Arteta could turn to the academy and forwards Ismeal Kabia and Nathan Butler-Oyedeji have both come off the bench this season.

Fifteen-year-old Max Dowman, who has regularly trained with the first team, is ineligible to play in the Premier League as competition rules state no player below the Under-16 age group can be named in a match-day squad.

It is why Arteta will have to think outside the box for the next month or so if he wants to ease the burden on his wide players.

Left-back is where Arsenal are best equipped in terms of personnel and, when everyone is fit, Arteta has seven players that can play there.

It could be that he repositions someone from there to be an option off the bench in attack, as was the case last month.

With 15 minutes left of Arsenal’s win over Dinamo Zagreb, Kieran Tierney was deployed on the left wing.

It was met with some surprise and, speaking to TNT Sports afterwards, Declan Rice said it underlined how the squad believed a new attacker was coming in the door.

But the transfer window has been and gone with no reinforcements and so the idea of Tierney being an emergency option on the wing for a month does not seem too farfetched.

Kieran Tierney is leaving Arsenal for Celtic in the summer but could have a key role to play in the title run-in

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In some ways it makes sense. Arteta has openly spoken about how Tierney cannot invert from left-back how he wants, which is partly why he is being allowed to leave Arsenal for free this summer and return to his boyhood club Celtic.

Pushed further up the pitch, he could play as a traditional winger and give the Gunners something different to what they have.

In his few substitute appearances this season, Tierney has made an impact by showing a willingness to go outside his opposite man and cross the ball in the box.

Such a positional switch would represent a surreal end to his Arsenal career, which promised so much at the start.

Injuries, and Arsenal’s tactical evolution, have seen him left behind. But, perhaps, he could have one final role to play.