Kai Havertz is the latest Arsenal player to suffer a serious injury, leaving Leandro Trossard, Raheem Sterling and Ethan Nwaneri as Mikel Arteta’s only fit, senior forwards. What are his potential solutions to this crisis?
With Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus already out injured, Arsenal’s attacking options were already stretched thin. Then news broke that Kai Havertz is set to miss the rest of the season with a torn hamstring sustained during the team’s training camp in Dubai.
Stretched thin has become stretched to breaking point.
Saka, who travelled with the squad to Dubai, is not due back until March at the earliest after undergoing hamstring surgery in December. Martinelli faces around a month on the sidelines after suffering a hamstring injury against Newcastle in February. Jesus is set for a lengthy spell out following an ACL injury to his left knee last month. Havertz is now out for the remainder of the season as well.
That leaves Leandro Trossard, Raheem Sterling and Ethan Nwaneri as Mikel Arteta’s only fit, senior forwards. So, what is the Arsenal manager going to do? What options does he have up his sleeve? And are Arsenal flat out doomed? We look at the data to find out.
Leandro Trossard As a False Nine?
Of Arteta’s three fit senior forwards, Trossard appears the most likely to play as Arsenal’s number nine. The Belgian has played there fairly frequently since joining the club, spending around 30% of his minutes centrally. Initially deployed as a striker in a 4-3-3 system, Trossard has recently operated alongside Havertz up front. With the German now missing, a return to a more traditional 4-3-3 – with Sterling and Nwanieri – seems inevitable.
Havertz was never the most clinical finisher for Arsenal, but he remains their top scorer this season with 15 goals in all competitions. Trossard will need to improve on the four league goals he’s got so far in 2023-24 to fill that void.
Interestingly, it doesn’t look like moving Trossard centrally has a notable uptick on his underlying attacking numbers. He averages virtually the same shots per 90 (2.3) and expected goals per 90 (0.29) when played as a nine compared to out wide, and he actually has a better record in front of goal when starting on the wing, scoring 0.40 goals per 90 there compared to 0.33 goals down the middle.
However, what does change considerably is his creativity when he plays through the middle. Despite playing 1,371 minutes fewer in all competitions for Arsenal as a central striker compared to out wide – the equivalent of 15 full matches – he has registered more assists there (8 to 7). He also creates chances more regularly (1.93 to 1.58 per 90), and the expected value of those chances improves: he has assisted shots worth 0.25 xG per 90 as a winger compared to 0.37 as a striker.
Trossard’s ability to drop deep as a false nine and bring teammates into play could be crucial; though we need to remember Arsenal’s usual wide threats, Saka and Martinelli, are unavailable.
Still, what he can do on the ball suggests that there’s upside to deploying him centrally.
Raheem Sterling: Left Wing
Raheem Sterling’s loan move from Chelsea to Arsenal was meant to provide versatility, experience, and quality across front line. It may still end up giving Arsenal those things, but so far, it hasn’t really worked out.
Sterling has struggled to make an impact, playing just 218 Premier League minutes this season and starting only three league games. He’s scored just one goal, in the League Cup against Bolton.
There have been flashes that he can still provide the direct, in-behind running that made him so effective at Liverpool and Manchester City. His cameo against Tottenham in the most recent north London derby was promising, as he looked a genuine threat with the ball.
Despite his struggles for playing time, Sterling’s underlying numbers suggest he can still be dangerous. He’s completing more dribbles per 90 than at any point since leaving Liverpool and has still got the nose to get into good positions. His per-90 figures of 10.1 touches in the opposition box and 0.38 non-penalty xG across all competitions this season are both better than any of his seasons at Chelsea.
He’s not played a lot of minutes, and the games he has played in have come against weaker opposition, so those numbers should be taken with caution. Arteta will be desperate for Sterling to make telling contributions when he gets in those dangerous positions.
He’s mainly played off the right for Arsenal this season, but is arguably more suited to the left, as his prolific time in Manchester proved.
Ethan Nwaneri: Right Wing
Arteta has hinted that Nwaneri could one day develop into a central striker but throwing him into such an unfamiliar role now seems unlikely. Instead, the 17-year-old has primarily deputised for the injured Saka on the right and has been a revelation considering his age. Arteta will now consider him one of the first names on the teamsheet.
Nwaneri’s goal against Manchester City in Arsenal’s most recent Premier League game was his seventh of the season. Only Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen (nine each) have scored more goals for a Premier League club before turning 18.
His attacking numbers have been outstanding, especially given the calibre of his teammates:
He can clearly deliver on the biggest stage. But whether he can do so every single week is a massive ask of someone still so young.
Promote Youth
Of course, there’s also the option to fast-track a player from the Under-21 team.
It’s something that’s already worked in 2024-25. Myles Lewis-Skelly hadn’t made a competitive first-team appearance until he came on as a substitute in September’s 2-2 draw at Manchester City, and look at him now.
The realistic academy option is Nathan Butler-Oyedeji, who has already been named in five of Arsenal’s Premier League matchday squads this season without making an appearance off the bench. He did come on for the final minutes of their 3-0 UEFA Champions League win over Dinamo Zagreb in January.
The 22-year-old has performed well in Premier League 2 this season for Arsenal’s U21 side, scoring seven times and assisting six more in 10 appearances – no player has been involved in more goals in this season’s competition than he has (13). None of those goals have come from the penalty spot either, while his 27% shot conversion rate is also impressive.
This wouldn’t be Butler-Oyedeji’s first exposure to senior football, having spent time on loan in League Two at Accrington Stanley in 2022-23 and League One last season at Cheltenham Town, but he failed to score at either club across 739 minutes of action.
Like Butler-Oyedeji, Khayon Edwards also has seven PL2 goals in 10 appearances for Arsenal U21s this season and is nine months younger than his teammate. He spent time on loan at Leyton Orient in League One at the end of last season but failed to score in seven league appearances (317 minutes).
Only turning 18 in late December, Andre Harriman-Annous has scored for Arsenal U18s in all three FA Youth Cup matches that they’ve played in 2024-25 and has stepped up to appear in six PL2 games for the Gunners’ U21 side this season, scoring once in the 4-3 win over Blackburn Rovers back in October.
Max Dowman is another academy prospect that’s highly thought of at Arsenal and made his PL2 debut at just 14 years and 336 days old on 1 December versus Brighton, breaking a competition record. Now 15, he’s scored in the last two rounds of the FA Youth Cup for the Gunners, but current rules mean that he wouldn’t be able to play in the Premier League this season as he didn’t turn 15 before the 31 August deadline.
Mikel Merino As an Emergency Option?
There has been speculation about Mikel Merino filling in up front due to his physical attributes. Merino is 6-foot-2 and is very good in the air; only Arsenal’s two centre-backs and Havertz have better aerial duel win rates than his 60%.
But across his 10-year professional career, the Spaniard has played just 19 mins at centre-forward – all in a Copa Del Rey game in January 2020 for Real Sociedad. He had just one touch in the opposition box in that time. Given Arsenal’s predicament, it’s understandable that unconventional solutions are being considered, but this one seems highly unlikely.
Does It Even Matter?
Okay, yes, it obviously does matter. It hurts missing four key attacking players. There is no avoiding that.
But despite their injury woes, Arsenal have already proven they can get results without key players. They beat Tottenham 1-0 in the north London derby in a highly impressive performance, despite missing Declan Rice and Martin Ødegaard. Saka has missed large portions of the season, yet Arsenal have lost just two of the 12 matches he has been absent for.
Their defensive solidity has been a major factor in being able to grind out wins without their top performers. The Gunners have conceded just 0.89 expected goals per game in the Premier League this season, the best rate in the league.
That should give them confidence to keep the scoreboard level, and then they can rely on their set-piece prowess to break games open. No team has scored more than Arsenal’s 10 set-piece goals in 2024-25, with dead-ball situations accounting for 30% of their total xG, another league-high figure. Gabriel Magalhães remains the most dangerous defender in the division from set pieces.
In the 2024 calendar year, Arsenal scored 89 league goals, second only to Liverpool’s 91. Yet only three players reached double figures, with Havertz leading the way with just 16 strikes.
Arsenal have already shown they can find goals from multiple sources. With their title challenge at stake, they will need to do so again.
Subscribe to our football newsletter to receive exclusive weekly content. You can also follow our social accounts over on X, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
