Arsenal’s lack of depth is causing them to slip in the title race

LONDON – There is something on the nose about cash playing such a key role in hurting Arsenal.

Matty Cash‘s 68th minute cross found Ollie Watkins unmarked in the box and completed Aston Villa’s comeback from 2-0 down to level the game at 2-2 on a Saturday that feels particularly significant in the Premier League title race. The demand for the Gunners to spend this month will reach a deafening level now, because if Arsenal didn’t know it before, they do now: their existing squad is not strong enough to win the league.

The signs were everywhere Saturday. Across London, Liverpool were working to beat Brentford and head coach Arne Slot turned to Darwin Núñez, Harvey Elliott, Curtis Jones and Federico Chiesa in an attempt to turn the game around.

Núñez struck twice in stoppage time – the second from an Elliott pass – to seal a 2-0 win, which certainly took some of the sting out of the Emirates Stadium crowd, muted as they were until Gabriel Martinelli opened the scoring with a close-range finish at the second question mark after 35 minutes.

Kai Havertz should have given Arsenal breathing room when he converted Leandro Trossard‘s 55th minute cross with a smart near post finish. However, within 13 minutes Villa were level Your Tielemans and then Watkins raised the visitors’ level. When manager Mikel Arteta turned to his bench to assess his options, he had it Raheem Sterling — whose loan move from Chelsea remains a disappointment — two left backs, Jorginho, Jakub Kiwior and three rookies to choose from.

Villa, meanwhile, introduced Lucas Digne, Leon Bailey and John Duran — around £68m talent — while new £28m signings Donyell Malenformerly Arsenal, was an unused substitute.

Arsenal had what they thought was a winning goal disallowed on VAR review after Havertz handled Merino’s strike in the 88th minute. And there was still time for Merino to hit the post before Trossard missed two more chances. But the feeling that they just lack the necessary quality at both ends of the pitch was inescapable on a day when Liverpool moved six points clear with a game in hand.

The contrast in options was not lost on Arteta.

“There are moments (in the title race), of course,” he said.

“(Liverpool) managed to do that, they made the subs and the subs made the impact and managed to change the game. With our side it was the opposite, although after conceding the two goals very close to each other, the danger was because I knew how the team was that we could go downhill because we were physically drained.

“Suddenly the team found another gear to go again and put Aston Villa in their box and went and went again and tried to find the goal that we haven’t been able to score in the end.”

The pressure to invest money in new contracts this month will certainly increase.

“When you look at the performances – I don’t know how many teams are playing at this level in the league,” continued Arteta.

“But when you look at the bench, you probably say we’re very short.”

There is of course mitigation in Arsenal’s current injury situation as well William Saliba to join Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, Ethan Nwaneri, Ben White, Riccardo Calafiori and Takehiro Tomiyasu as players are currently unavailable. A full compliment would see Arsenal with a better return to date, but there was a realization this summer that the Gunners needed another forward to challenge on four fronts and an acceptance that they had been lucky to have such long-term availability of key players in the last season.

Saliba’s absence was a key factor in Arsenal’s faltering run two years ago and he was clearly missed again here. Since the start of the 2022-23 campaign, Arsenal have conceded 0.8 goals per league match when Saliba played (from 85 matches), compared to 1.7 per game when he hasn’t (13 games).

But Arteta appeared to exacerbate the problem by opting out of a similar replacement in Kiwior and instead reshuffled several positions. Jurriën Timber was moved inside to central defence, Thomas Partey switched to right back with Declan Rice falls to the bottom of the midfield and Michael Merino operates as no. 8 together with Martin Ødegaard.

Arsenal’s defense was the 11th different back four they have used in 22 games and Partey was badly at fault for Villa’s equaliser, stepping off when Cash put the ball at the far post, leaving Watkins unmarked. That said, Watkins controlled his finish superbly, off the underside of the crossbar.

“We can also fail ourselves because defending the way we did with one of the goals, especially (the second goal), it cannot be part of our game if we want to be at the highest level in this country because the rest, what else can I ask them to do against a very good side.”

Arsenal have now dropped 12 points from winning positions, already more than in any season since 2019-20. To make matters worse, this is the first time they have failed to win a home league game where they led by two or more goals under Arteta.

The margins are fine, but they are noticeable: Arsenal need more than they currently have to win the trophies they crave. The window is open for another fortnight and Arsenal need to make their money work for them.