Arsenal need £168m trio as Gunners face Real Madrid humbling after Arteta 'demand' falls on deaf ears

Mikel Arteta’s “demand” to Arsenal’s backup stars fell on deaf ears vs Everton as their season-long troubles contributed to another Premier League draw…

Heading into Saturday’s early kick-off, the pre-match circumstances looked likely to contribute to Arsenal suffering more misery at Goodison Park.

Having collected 17 points out of a possible 33 under David Moyes before today, Everton supporters could already freely enjoy their Goodison Park farewell without the fear of relegation, with only three matches at their beloved ground remaining now.

Mikel Arteta‘s side may be glad to see the back of this ground. Four of their previous six visits to Goodison Park ended in defeat, with the potentially jubilant atmosphere adding to a difficult match for Arsenal.

The Gunners also ran the risk of looking past Everton, with their most important game of the season – Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg vs Real Madrid – around the corner, especially with their slimmest Premier League title hopes dented further by Liverpool’s win against their local rivals in midweek.

Arteta had “many niggles” to deal with before the trip to Everton and understandably rested key players, with Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Martin Odegaard and Thomas Partey on the bench.

The Gunners head coach “demanded” his backups to “step in” and deliver against Everton, as their failure to do so in recent months has undermined Arsenal’s season amid their injury woes.

READ: Where every Premier League club’s best player could go this summer

With the axings of Aaron Ramsdale, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Mesut Ozil, Arteta has proven he can be ruthless in pursuit of squad improvements, and similarly cut-throat decisions are required this summer, with Andrea Berta’s first summer as sporting director set to be a hectic one.

As everyone knows, Arsenal lack a top-tier striker and the season-ending injuries to Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus were worthy karma for their transfer ineptitude.

But Arteta’s current options have not done nearly enough to ensure they cope until the summer; Havertz is their top scorer with nine goals, and only five of Arsenal’s stars have five or more in the Premier League.

£168m trio Benjamin Sesko, Nico Williams and Matheus Cunha would be perfect summer buys for Arsenal if they are to go from very good to elite and win the Premier League title next season.

Before that, Arsenal can only try to win all of their remaining Premier League games and pray for an almighty cock-up from Liverpool, which is looking increasingly unlikely given the scale of cock-up now required.

Arsenal’s performance against Everton followed a similar theme to so many of their matches this season.

Even without Saka, Martinelli and Odegaard from the start, Arsenal were slick in possession and produced some high-quality passing with one-touch moves, but it is their final part where they come up short and this was the case in Saturday’s early kick-off.

Fortunately for Arsenal, the Toffees were far from sparkling either and were booed off at half-time. Moyes’ flat side seemingly suffered after exerting most of their energy into the Liverpool match and were ineffective in attack, while their loose passes and careless decisions gifted Arsenal opportunities to threaten Jordan Pickford.

The Gunners let Everton off the hook before the visitors managed the rare feat of capitalising with a ruthless counter-attack as they broke the deadlock in the 34th minute.

Idrissa Gueye’s weak header gifted possession to Raheem Sterling, who advanced and assisted Leandro Trossard after the Everton midfielder and Jarrad Branthwaite challenged for the same ball.

Sterling and Trossard are among those who have underdelivered this season, but the latter expertly drilled the ball into the bottom corner past Pickford; a precise finish he’s not produced nearly enough this term after they became his trademark in 2023/24.

This goal set Arsenal up for a cruise to three points, but a couple of manic minutes after the interval cost them. David Raya was let off the hook after his rush of blood to the head saw him lose possession outside his penalty area before Myles Lewis-Skelly conceded a penalty for dragging Jack Harrison after misjudging the bounce of the ball.

A returning Iliman Ndiaye calmly converted the spot-kick, sending Raya the wrong way to level the match.

This did not alter the game’s trajectory too much as Arsenal had the better chances in the final quarter of the match, but Gabriel Martinelli and Declan Rice had efforts saved as the points were shared.

Everton’s supporters will expect more from Moyes’ side in their remaining three matches at Goodison Park after offering very little going forward against Arsenal and Liverpool.

Meanwhile, Arsenal’s season-long issues remain and their eleventh Premier League draw of the season will ensure Liverpool secure their 20th title even sooner.

I expect Arteta to adopt a glass-half-full approach during his post-match media duties with no more injuries picked up and another 45 minutes in Saka’s legs.

Still, he will be acutely aware of the job at hand this summer to take Arsenal to the next level and this could come via some punishment over two legs against Real Madrid with the – as Arteta conceded – “not easy to replace leadership” of Gabriel Magalhaes severely weakening their hopes of keeping Carlo Ancelotti’s team of Galacticos at bay.

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