Gary Neville and Paul Merson agree that Mikel Arteta could have done more to change Arsenal’s fortunes against Newcastle United.
The Gunners endured a frustrating evening on Tuesday night as they played out a 0-0 draw against Newcastle United.
Eddie Howe’s men were always going to be a tough nut to crack given their outstanding defensive record this season.
This proved to be a tricky game for Arsenal, and one that referee Andy Madley completely lost control of in a fractious encounter.
Arsenal can maybe feel a little aggrieved having had two decent penalty shouts turned down, but it just wasn’t to be.
Title-chasing Arsenal are now left hoping for a favour from Chelsea when they take on Manchester City tonight.
Gary Neville and Paul Merson think Mikel Arteta could have done more for Arsenal
This game maybe showed that Arsenal need more quality depth if they are to really go all the way in the title race.
Arteta just didn’t quite have the options from the bench that he would have liked, especially with Gabriel Jesus unavailable.
That’s why Arsenal are chasing Shakhtar Donetsk winger Mykhaylo Mudryk but some are wanting more from Arteta.
Pundits Gary Neville and Paul Merson have both spoken about Arteta’s tactical approach on Sky Sports.
Neville feels that Arsenal could have just tried something a little different inside their normal structure, even if it was just pushing a winger closer to Eddie Nketiah in attack.
Merson added that switching Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli could have paid dividends, believing that putting them on their stronger sides would have negated Newcastle doubling up on them.
“Could they have done something different within the structure that they had? Could Saka have maybe gone and played closer to the centre forward maybe for five minutes? Could Martinelli have gone there? Just something different that I think they could maybe have done,” said Neville.
“Maybe even just change sides because they were doubling up all the time,” said Merson.
Newcastle don’t concede many goals but maybe a slight change could have opened them up.
Still, putting Saka and Martinelli on their strong sides would have likely resulted in crosses into the box, with Nketiah unlikely to win headers against the likes of Sven Botman or Dan Burn.
This is a learning curve for this young Arsenal side and hopefully they be able to unlock defences moving forward as they chase the Premier League.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
