Wright Arteta needs help in the transfer window

Ian Wright says that Mikel Arteta needs help in the January transfer window, after Arsenal threw away a two-goal lead at home to Aston Villa in a draw that damaged their title hopes.

The Gunners were 2-0 up at Emirates Stadium as the hour approached and were set to close the gap on Liverpool to four points once more, after the leaders won earlier in the day to go seven clear.

The last time Arsenal had let a two-goal lead slip at home was more than five years ago, against Crystal Palace.

But two goals in the space of eight minutes, from Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins, turned the match on its head.

Arteta’s team were unable to respond, with a Mikel Merino shot hitting the post and Kai Havertz’s goal disallowed for handball, and they now sit six points behind Liverpool, who have a match in hand.

Injuries to Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, and Ethan Nwaneri had limited Arteta's options in attack, with Raheem Sterling being the only senior forward among his substitutes.

The other attacking players on the bench were 22-year-old Nathan Butler-Oyedeji, who is yet to make a first-team appearance, and teenager Ismeal Kabia, with only nine senior minutes under his belt in the EFL Cup.

Sterling came on in the 82nd minute but the winger on loan from Chelsea has not scored in his eight Premier League appearances for Arsenal and he failed to have an impact against Villa.

'We're very close to it fizzling out'

Wright believes Arteta needs to be given the opportunity to strengthen his attack before the transfer window closes on 3 February.   

"The underlying factor is the manager needs help," Wright said.

"You look at the benches; you look at who they're able to bring on. It just looks like he needs help now. They need help. We have to buy some players. We have to. Even when Saka was fit, we needed another forward.

"We need to get bodies into that team to help them. They look knackered after a while there as well. They need help."

Without that help, Wright fears for Arsenal's title hopes.

"We are very close to it being in danger of fizzling out," he said.

"In the next couple of games if it doesn't happen, if they don't bring someone in to give them a boost. They looked a bit tired." 

After his side played a third match in six days, Arteta focused more on the issues in defence, which was makeshift due to a muscular injury to William Saliba.

The Frenchman had been ever-present in the league this season but will have further tests tomorrow and Arteta admitted to being "worried" about the results of the test.

This injury to Saliba, along with those to Riccardo Calafiori, Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu, forced Arteta to shift Jurrien Timber to centre-back and midfielder Thomas Partey to right-back, where the Ghanaian failed to track Villa midfielder Ollie Watkins for the equaliser. 

"We were unbelievable," Arteta told BBC Sport. "I'm so proud of the way we played, how dominant, how fluid we were and how much we put into it.

"We played three games in six days. I'm so proud of them, but at the same time so disappointed. We deserve more. We didn't get it, and we are sad because of that."

As for the goals conceded, Arteta said: "Nowhere near the standards of what we demand. It is a thin line against them as they keep you on the verge all the time.

"The speed, energy, quality, and level of the performance. It is the best performance we have had against Villa as they're a really good side. But we need to get the result in."