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In January, Arsenal made the calculated gamble not to bring anybody in, whilst allowing a number of players to leave the club, including captain and main striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
He has since gone on to enjoy a new lease of life with Barcelona, where he has already scored 14 goals in 10 appearances. Meanwhile, Alexander Lacazette, who assumed the main striker role on hi departure, has found the net just four times in the Premier League all season, and two of those came from the penalty squad.
The Arsenal squad, already thin, has now been depleted by injuries to Kiernan Tierney and Thomas Partey. Tierney is out for the rest of the season with the knee injury he picked up playing for Scotland, whilst Partey will miss a number of games with a recurrence of a thigh problem.
Having been favourites for the Champions League a few weeks ago, qualification for European football next season is now in doubt.
The gamble may have failed.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.