Mikel Arteta urged to secure Ollie Watkins
Arsenal slipped up in the Premier League title race with a defeat to Aston Villa, which exposed the shortcomings in Mikel Arteta’s options going forwards as Gabriel Jesus struggles for goals
Arsenal icon David Seaman has urged Mikel Arteta to make Ollie Watkins his top target for the January transfer window.
“[Watkins] is a good shout. Yeah, because he’s a box striker. He doesn’t get too involved in the build-up play which I like,” Seaman told his Seaman Says podcast when asked about potential January targets.
“I sometimes see Jesus too far out, and I’m like: ‘No, get back in the middle!’ It’s something everyone is talking about, getting a new striker would boost the team.”
“I’m very disappointed with the result, especially with the way we played, I think we deserved much more than what we had, I thought we were the better team, I haven’t seen a team do what we did to Villa today since we were here in February,” Arteta said.
“It wasn’t enough to win it because we lacked the accuracy in the opponent’s box to put the ball in the back of the net with the amount of situations that we generated. We had so many big opportunities, some of them we didn’t even finish when they were completely open.
“We had to pick the right player to shoot and when we did it two or three times it was an open goal almost and we didn’t manage to score, but there’s not much more that we can demand from the team to play every three days.
“To play the way they’ve done, I am really pleased, but disappointed because in the end we didn’t have the result that we wanted.
“I think it was a bit windy today, you see a lot of misplaced balls, having the right touch, having the right accuracy in certain passes. I don’t know but for sure I have responsibility. I have to take it.”
The Gunners suffered a setback to their Premier League title hopes on Saturday as they were defeated by third-place Aston Villa. The visitors dominated for the most part, with 62 percent of the possession and having 12 shots in total.
But they struggled to really test Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez, with Arteta’s side having just five shots on target. Leading the line was Gabriel Jesus, though he has scored just two goals in the top-flight so far this season, with Arsenal having netted the fewest of the current top four.
That apparent scoring issue is one Seaman believes needs to be urgently addressed. The former keeper won three top-flight titles with the Gunners and has highlighted Villa star Watkins as the perfect man for Arsenal’s needs.
Arteta himself was left ruing his side’s wastefulness in front of goal as they slipped to their second defeat of the campaign. The boss did take responsibility for the loss, but insisted his team needed to do better.
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