Mikel Arteta says he’s seen something at Arsenal recently that ‘really re-energised’ him after ‘big worry’

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Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has had to deal with a lot this season.

The pressure was on the Spaniard’s shoulders at the start of this term to win the Premier League title after finishing second in back-to-back campaigns.

With Manchester City falling off, this was the perfect chance for Arsenal to take advantage, but injuries to key players have really hurt them this season.

Despite that, Arteta has kept Arsenal in the title race, and the Gunners boss is still confident of pushing Liverpool all the way.

Mikel Arteta says his ‘big worry’ at Arsenal has been eased

Arsenal have had so many injury problems since the start of the season.

Arteta will go through the whole campaign now without having a fully fit squad available at his disposal – there hasn’t been one game where everyone has been available.

Arsenal lost Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz to season-ending injuries in the space of a month. With Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli also injured, they are really short of options in attack.

Arteta has admitted that he was ‘scratching’ his head and was really worried after those injuries. But, he now feels re-energised because of one thing.

Speaking in his press conference, Arteta said, as relayed on HaytersTV: “I had those moments because it was a big worry losing four front players of that level and importance to the team.

“Yeah, you’re scratching your head to say ‘okay, how are we now going to compensate this lack of threat, goals, assists, options of who’s going to fill those minutes’. You start to generate a lot of options – some more realistic and some others thinking in a completely different way as well.

“And then what really re-energised me is the team – the staff, the players. Looking at them, if I tell them to play in any position, do anything, I know that they are ready for it and they are going to do really convinced – not because it has to be done. It is because they really feel it.”

The Arsenal players who are ready to play out of position as a striker

Arsenal only have three fit attackers at the moment – Raheem Sterling, Leandro Trossard and Ethan Nwaneri.

That is not enough options for a club to stay alive in a title race, but that is what Arteta has now and he has to find a way.

Mikel Merino stepped up as a striker and saved the day against Leicester City, and the Spaniard is now an option as an unorthodox number nine.

Arteta claimed that Riccardo Calafiori can also be used up top if required, and we would love to see how the Italian would fare there.

William Saliba has also volunteered to play as a striker – the Frenchman started his career up top back when he was very young.

Arsenal fans think Declan Rice can do a job as a striker too, and we think he would be an interesting option there.