Arsenal transfer latest: Why Gunners must spend in January window to Mikel Arteta deal with injury crisis

The Gunners took a two-goal lead at the Emirates against Villa but a poor final 30 minutes saw them concede twice, with Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins condemning the Gunners to a second draw in three Premier League games.

Centre-back William Saliba was missing from the starting lineup, and he joined defenders Ben White, Riccardo Calafiori and Takehiro Tomiyasu on the sidelines.

In the aftermath of the draw Arteta confessed that his team are struggling to cope with the number of absentees, and when asked whether the result adds pressure to make signings in the January window, he said: "Not the result. When you look at the performances, I don't know how many teams are playing at this level in the league, but when you look at the bench, probably you say, I think we are very short."

Arsenal are six points behind first-placed Liverpool despite having played a game more than the Reds, and it looks like the Gunners will have to be close to perfect from now until the end of the season if they are to win the title.

Arsenal's dire situation

The Gunners will be without forward Bukayo Saka - arguably their best player - for a number of months due to a hamstring injury, and the absence of Saliba only compounds their injury crisis further.

Attacker Gabriel Jesus is set to miss the rest of the season as a result a cruciate ligament injury, while teenager Ethan Nwaneri is not scheduled to return until next month.

Arsenal have 16 games remaining in the Premier League, and if 90 points is seen as a benchmark for winning the title, then they will have to win 15 times, and cannot afford to lose a single match.

In his post-match press conference, Arteta highlighted that Liverpool have the ability to turn to their bench in moments of need, with Darwin Nunez scoring twice as a substitute against Brentford on Saturday, saying: "They made the subs, and the subs made the impact, and they managed to change the game.

"In our side it was the opposite, even though, after conceding the two goals very close to each other, the danger was, because I knew how the team was, that we could go down here because we were physically drained. Suddenly, the team find another gear to go again and just put Aston Villa in there, in the box, and go and go again, trying to find the goal that we haven't been able to score at the end."

Arsenal were eliminated from the FA Cup by Manchester United on January 12, and also face elimination from the EFL Cup semi-final given they trail Newcastle United 2-0 after their first-leg defeat on January 7, and that could mean winning the Champions League is their best route to silverware this season.

Liverpool have drawn two of their last three top-flight matches, but unless Arsenal look to strengthen in attack - and possibly defence - then winning the Premier League seems unrealistic.

Written by

Lewis Nolan