Mikel Arteta says Arsenal are “very short” in attack and need January reinforcements after a blowing a two-goal lead against Aston Villa.

Arsenal looked to be heading to a simple 2-0 win over Villa at the Emirates on Saturday, before two goals in eight minutes from the visitors turned the game on its head. The Gunners have seven players out injured and had three academy players among the substitutes, whereas £85 million ($103m) signing Darwin Nunez came off the bench to score two late goals for Premier League leaders Liverpool at Brentford. This was not lost on manager Arteta.

Arsenal are now six points behind first-placed Liverpool and Arne Slot’s men have a game in hand. Unless the Gunners don’t make some more signings in January, with Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Jesus out injured, they may miss out on the Premier League title for another year.

Arsenal take a break from the Premier League on Wednesday when they host Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League.

Striker agrees Arsenal move

Benjamin Sesko has already declared his willingness to join Arsenal, giving the Gunners a fresh incentive to move the transfer forward.

As Mirror Football’s John Cross reported last May, the RB Leipzig striker favours a move to Mikel Arteta’s side ahead of other Premier League clubs, like Manchester United and Chelsea, while there has also been interest from clubs in Italy.

The Gunners targeted Sesko last summer, but the Slovenia striker decided to stay at RB Leipzig for one more season. The 21-year-old negotiated a £60m “gentleman’s agreement” to allow him to leave in the summer of 2025.

The German club intend to stick to that arrangement – unless a club makes a huge offer in January. A new side to be interested in Sesko is Barcelona, although their financial restrictions will be a hurdle for the Catalans to overcome.

But it is clear Arsenal will face extra competition for the highly-rated attacker if they wait until the summer, meaning their deadline to do a deal has been slashed. The Gunners have explored trying to bring in one of their summer targets early, and they remain keen on Nico Williams of Athletic Bilbao. Williams’ wage demands are in excess of £300,000-a-week and have proved a stumbling block.

They have also looked at the likes of Juventus forward Dusan Vlahovic and Sporting Lisbon’s Viktor Gyokeres. If they can bring in a forward this month, it would also help offset an injury crisis, which sees Bukayo Saka sidelined with a hamstring tear and Gabriel Jesus suffering a season-ending knee injury.

Gunners boss Arteta addressed adding to his attacking options in his press conference ahead of Saturday’s 5.30pm kick-off against Aston Villa.

“At the moment, we don’t have them. We are trying, as I said, actively to find the best possible solution. But we will have to wait and see what we can do,” said Arteta.

“Obviously, it [the profile of player] is not something that I’m going to discuss here. We have lost two massive players for us in the front line and we need some support.”