The Gunners headed into the season with a world-class starting XI, but not a huge amount of quality in their ranks beyond that.
That didn’t cause them many problems early on in the campaign, but that changed when Gabriel Jesus (26) picked up a serious knee injury playing for Brazil at the World Cup.
Mikel Arteta’s side was able to cope fairly well without him at first, winning five of their first six matches after the winter break, but the striker’s absence was felt in the four games after that, which consisted of two defeats to Manchester City, a draw against Brentford and a loss to Everton.
Jesus’s replacement, Eddie Nketiah (23), was unable to get a single goal or assist in those matches, despite playing the full 90 minutes in all of them, and the team as a whole was only able to find the back of the net twice.
They lacked not only a top centre-forward but also players that could come off the bench and cause the opposition backlines problems.
At that point, Arsenal fans would have looked ahead to the final stretch of their season and started to doubt whether they were finally going to see their team win the league again.
After all, while the final two games of the campaign, against Nottingham Forest and Wolves, didn’t look too difficult on paper, they’d have to face three of the current top six as well as Liverpool and Chelsea before that.
However, on the eve of that run of matches, they have much less to worry about, because the above issues have been largely solved.
For one, Jesus is fully fit again and getting back to his best already, with the Brazilian scoring twice last time out against Brighton.
He brings a lot more to the table than just goal contributions too, defending from the front with his relentless pressing and bringing his team-mates into play.
To see just how important he is to the side, you need only look at their record this season when he’s started: 15 wins, one draw and two defeats. In comparison, they’ve failed to win eight of the 22 games in which he hasn’t played from the off.
Not only is he available again, but Arteta has found a capable deputy to him in the form of Leandro Trossard (28).
The Belgian came to the club in January when Jesus was still out injured, but was used as an alternative to Gabriel Martinelli (21) out wide at first. Against Leicester in late February though, his manager decided to try him as a striker, and it proved to be a masterstroke.
He’s played five matches up front now and has picked up six assists in them, being the creative hub for his team and more than making up for the fact that he hasn’t scored. There’s little doubt that he’s good enough there to stand in for Jesus if needed.
In the space of just over a month, the Premier League leaders have gone from lacking a top striker to having two.
Don’t take our word for it though, take a look at the numbers.
Including Trossard’s time at Brighton, both of the forwards boast an average of just over one goal contribution every two Premier League games.
Their records are impressive when it comes to key passes as well with both averaging more than one per match.
Both added to their tallies in all of the above departments against Leeds in a match that showed they can play well together too, with Trossard setting up Jesus for the third goal.
Their presence in the starting XI also allowed Arteta to rest Bukayo Saka (21), keeping one of his most important players fit and fresh.
Thanks to Jesus’s return and Trossard’s emergence, the manager now has more options than ever. He can rotate his forwards, minimising their chances of picking up an injury, and sleep easy knowing that the title charge won’t be completely derailed if they do.
Arsenal have some tough challenges on the horizon, but a frontline good enough to tackle them.
