Arsenal are struggling to score goals without the likes of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz.
The Gunners have been forced to deploy a makeshift front three in recent matches, with midfielder Mikel Merino leading the line as a number nine.
Nottingham Forest held Arsenal to a dire stalemate on Wednesday night, making it two successive matches in which Mikel Arteta’s team were unable to find the back of the net.
Both the volume of shots and quality of chances are down for the North Londoners, and they’re subsequently in desperate need of increased dynamism in the forward areas to reignite a stale and flailing attack.
Jorginho explains Arsenal’s goal-scoring issues
Arteta opted to use Riccardo Calafiori as a striker in various phases of play against Forest, with the Italian given the freedom to roam into central areas inside the box.
This bizarre ploy shows how desperate the situation has got for Arsenal, with the current front three simply not sufficient.
Merino, Leandro Trossard and Ethan Nwaneri generated just 0.33 expected goals and seven shots combined against the East Midlanders.
Speaking on Arsenal’s issues in this area of the game, Jorginho said: “We need to keep pushing, we need to keep going. We need to find the solutions to score, to create more chances in the box, more shots.
“Everyone needs to step up and do a bit more for the team.”
Jorginho impressed against Forest, but his presence didn’t provide ample attacking threat for the Gunners.
Meanwhile, Trossard also spoke about Arsenal’s goal-scoring issues after the encounter in Nottingham.
The Belgian said: “We know that with the players out we have to find solutions and that’s up to everyone, the staff and the players as well.”
“Today we played quite well, we were dominant, we had a lot of possession and then it’s about scoring goals and hopefully it will click soon and goals will come.”
Mikel Merino in midfield is Mikel Arteta’s best bet
Arteta has an extremely difficult task on his hand regarding eliciting more threat from the players at his disposal.
However, there is one potential solution that could work nicely.
Arsenal’s record with Trossard up front is excellent, and thus the Spaniard should revert to this.
However, the former Brighton man is only effective as a number nine when he has a midfielder behind him who likes to exploit the space in central areas that he vacates.
Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard aren’t inclined to arrive late in the box, but Merino is, and should be used in that role.
Merino has struggled starting in the centre-forward position, playing with his back to goal, but he can thrive with late bursts into the box.
This would allow Rice to move deeper and would emphasise his strength of preventing transitions.
It’s far from perfect, but this could be the best route to new-found attacking impetus in the Arsenal team.
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