Arteta will now have to keep Arsenal’s clunker who is ‘similar’ to Giroud on the bench for £200,000 a year.

Arsenal have achieved a consistency unlike any other team in the Premier League in recent years.

The Gunners have finished runners-up for the third year in a row, and although Mikel Arteta’s form continues to lag, he has built the team into a superstar team feared across Europe. Despite their recent dip, Arsenal remain at the top of the table, with their performances and consistency forming a general opinion that they are the most complete team in the division and favorites to win.

But with Manchester City and Aston Villa chasing the Emirates team, Arteta will feel his injury problems once again loom as his biggest enemy.

Arsenal injury latest news

Arsenal once again found themselves at the top of the Premier League injury table, in the wrong place, but Arteta and new sporting director Andrea Berta have made aggressive moves on the transfer front to create a balanced squad capable of dealing with such setbacks.

As the top-flight side prepare to take on Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League on Saturday night, Arteta will be gritting his teeth amidst a wave of setbacks, with key players such as Declan Rice, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães and Leandro Trossard either ruled out or in doubt ahead of the top-flight clash.

However, the club has been boosted by the return of Gabriel Jesus. He made his first appearance of the season off the bench against Club Brugge in midweek and was praised for his smooth and aggressive play.

It’s been almost a year since the Brazilian last played professionally for the Gunners after tearing his ACL last year, but there have been recent rumors about Jesus’ possible exit from the Emirates Stadium, but Arteta has poured cold water on those claims and instead urged the 28-year-old to step up and become a mainstay.

Arsenal’s current injury crisis suggests he has that chance, but Jesus, who has been likened to former Gunners goalscorer Olivier Giroud, could move into the starting XI over a fresh star who can’t wait to slot into the No.9 spot.

Arteta must remove new Olivier Giroud

When Arsenal signed Victor Goqueres for £64 million this summer, it appeared that Arteta had finally solved their unending problems up front, acquiring the 27-year-old striker who had scored 97 goals in just two seasons with Sporting Lisbon in Portugal.

However, the forward powerhouse has so far found it difficult. Too often he drifted during matches, struggling with serve and fluency in the final third. He has scored six goals in 18 games in all competitions, including four in the Premier League.

The £200,000-a-week striker has yet to hit the ground running since returning to England, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t looking to rekindle the form that has so terrified European defenders in recent years.

Former stars such as Theo Walcott have also suggested that Joekeles has the qualities to emulate the likes of Giroud, claiming the Sweden international is “similar” and “probably stronger” than the veteran Frenchman, who scored 105 goals and provided 37 assists in 253 games for the Gunners.

But for now, Arteta may be wise to move Jesus into the wing and leave Gokeres out of the starting XI. So far this season, he has had a lot to live up to, being branded a 5/10 match rating by Football London in Bruges, missing a golden chance with a brutal strike from Gabriel Martinelli, and being fooled out of a central role was pure flattery.

According to Sofascore, he wasted two big chances, lost all three duels on the ground, took just 12 touches and lost the ball four times. This equates to losing the ball every 3 touches.

Giroud, 39, joined Arsenal from Ligue 1 side Montpellier and scored just one goal in his first 10 Premier League appearances in 2012-13.

Merino has moonlighting ability as a centre-forward, so being relegated to the bench might not be a bad thing for Gokeres as he looks to find his footing.

In the end, Giroud scored 21 goals in the Premier League, establishing a reputation as a high-scoring reserve player. With Gokeres, Arteta could repeat that trick.