Arsenal can finally end Merino experiment by unleashing "deadly" Hale Ender

They say that managers justify their wages when things start to go wrong, and if that’s the case, Mikel Arteta has the chance to prove his worth to Arsenal over the next three months.

The Gunners came into this season with the express intention of finally dethroning Manchester City atop the Premier League, but instead, they find themselves second to Liverpool and in quite a hole.

The Spaniard’s side have been ravaged by injuries, so much so that the manager has had to play Mikel Merino as the starting number nine, despite him being a hybrid eight/six.

However, aside from the last 20 minutes against Leicester City, it’s a tactic that has not worked, so to ensure his side doesn’t fall any further behind the Reds, Arteta needs to make a change, one that could see him hand an academy star his first start for the club.

Arsenal’s striker options

So, with Havertz, Jesus and Martinelli all out of action, Arteta’s options for his starting number nine are certainly limited but not nonexistent.

The most obvious option he has, and probably the one he’ll opt to go with for at least a few more games, is to simply start Merino up top again, as while he’s looked somewhat lost in the last two games, he scored a brilliant brace any regular nine would be proud of against Leicester.

Another option that we can’t see the manager going with is starting Raheem Sterling down the middle, as while he’s spent most of his career out wide, the Englishman scored 14 goals and provided six assists in 28 appearances there for Manchester City.

However, the Chelsea loanee is not the player he once was and has been frankly awful this season, racking up a haul of one goal and two assists in 21 games and undoubtedly losing the support of the fans.

The final realistic decision Arteta might make for the next run of games is to start Leandro Trossard down the middle, and either play Sterling off the left or even move Riccardo Calafiori or Kieran Tierney into the frontline.

The Belgian is certainly more effective when playing off the left, but has a decent amount of experience playing down the middle for Arsenal, scoring four goals and providing nine assists there in 16 appearances for the Gunners.

With all that said, there is another, perhaps unlikely, option: start an academy star.

The Hale Ender who should start over Merino

While Arsenal’s current attacking situation is far from ideal, the good news is that they have an incredible academy from which they could find a solution, such as Khayon Edwards.

Now, there are some other promising youngsters, such as Dan Casey and Andre Harriman-Annous, that Arteta could turn to, but Edwards has one significant advantage over both of them: his age.

The Islington-born ace turned 21 in September, so even though he’s probably not the club’s long-term solution up top – he’d already be in the team if he was – he should be able to step up to the physicality of senior football far easier than the aforementioned 17-year-olds.

Moreover, while he didn’t have a great time on loan with Leyton Orient last season, the “deadly” number nine, as dubbed by football.london’s Kaya Kaynak, has a more extensive track record with the youth teams and it’s a seriously impressive one.

For example, in 91 appearances across the U21s and U18s, the 5 foot 11 poacher has scored 43 goals and provided 16 assists, which comes out to a brilliant average of a goal involvement every 1.54 games.

Khayon Edwards’ Youth Record
Team	Arsenal U18	Arsenal U21
Appearances	41	50
Goals	23	23
Assists	9	7
Goal Involvements per Match	0.78	0.60
All Stats via Transfermarkt

Furthermore, in just 14 appearances this season, he’s scored nine goals and provided three assists, which comes out to a goal involvement every 1.16 games, and shows he’s now too good for the level at which he’s playing.

Ultimately, Edwards is unlikely to be Arsenal’s long-term solution at centre-forward, but with Merino struggling to make an impact there, it might be time for Arteta to hand the youngster his first start for the club; he’s earned it.