0 shots, 0 key passes: Arteta needs to stop starting this Arsenal star after invisible performance vs Villa

Arsenal’s makeshift striker Mikel Merino had a very poor game against Aston Villa today, perhaps showing that Mikel Arteta needs to end this experiment.

The Spain international has filled in pretty well as an emergency centre-forward, scoring in recent games against Chelsea and Brentford, but in general it surely can’t be considered a long-term option.

Against Villa today we saw Merino thoroughly shackled, with the 29-year-old barely able to make any kind of impact on the game.

See below for some of Merino’s stats at Villa Park, with the former Real Sociedad man failing to have any shots or make any key passes…

It seems Arteta realised he had to change things as he replaced Merino with Viktor Gyokeres in the 46th minute.

The problem there, however, is that the Sweden international just hasn’t done enough since joining to convince Arteta he shouldn’t be experimenting with a midfielder up front instead.

Arsenal spent a lot on new attacking players this summer, with Gyokeres joining for £64m, Noni Madueke for £48.5m, and Eberechi Eze for £60m.

Still, none have been consistent enough, and that’s been a problem for the likes of Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli as well.

Leandro Trossard has been Arsenal’s most reliable attacker, contributing six goals and five assists in 17 games so far, including his equaliser against Villa today.

Overall, it’s not the most threatening front line, and one that could do either with some further additions, or at the very least the speedy return of the likes of Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus to full fitness and form.

Continuing with Merino up front, however, is surely not an option, and for now Arteta probably needs to show more trust in Gyokeres and work out how to get the best out of a striker who was scoring for fun in Portugal.

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Surprising substitution, especially that Merino has been doing fine in Gyokeres’ absence.
Another point to add to the lessons to learn from today’s game.