Neville claims Arsenal ‘didn’t want’ Arteta flop as Nuno shares damning reason for tactical shift

Nuno Espirito Santo offered a damning reason for his tactical switch in Nottingham Forest’s goalless draw with Arsenal on Wednesday, while Gary Neville claims the Gunners “didn’t want” a summer signing.

The Gunners couldn’t find a way past Forest on Wednesday amid an injury crises which leaves them without a recognised striker.

Mikel Merino was used as the de facto No.9 again having come off the bench to score a brace against Leicester 10 days ago, but he rarely threatened in the 1-0 defeat to West Ham and was ineffective once again on Wednesday.

And Nuno claimed after the game that his move from a back five to a back four was down to Arsenal’s lack of a striker.

“Arsenal doesn’t have a striker, so with Merino playing in that position, there is no need for an extra body (in defence),” He said. “So the overload was in the midfield – it’s about containing the midfield.”

The results means Arsenal are now a whopping 13 points behind league-leaders Liverpool, who beat Newcastle 2-0 at Anfield.

Arteta’s side will now surely fail once again to win the Premier League title having finished second to Manchester City in the previous two campaigns.

Asked by TNT’s Danny Jamieson why his side had again drawn a blank, Arteta snapped back: “I don’t want to discuss that again, we (already) know that.”

The Spaniard was also spikey when asked if he would now be making a tactical change to his forward three, interrupting Jamieson to say: “We have a few days now before the PSV game, so that’s what we’re going to do. Think about it.”

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Merino has been preferred to Raheem Sterling in the last two games, with the Chelsea loanee struggling to have any sort of impact since his summer move.

And Gary Neville believes Arsenal were forced into signing Sterling by Arteta, who worked with the winger while he was assistant manager to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.

“Do you know what I think they’ve done? In the last part of the summer transfer window, I’m not sure Arsenal wanted to sign Raheem Sterling,” Neville said on The Overlap with Sky Bet.

“I’m not sure Arsenal, as a club, wanted him. I think Arteta’s thought Sterling can play in all the positions up top and has basically told the club to get him in as cover.

“I think that’s what he said. He can play across the frontline so Arteta has looked at him as his second or third striker.

“They’ve ended up backing him and I think that’s put them off doing another deal in January of the same ilk because they’re thinking we brought Sterling in and Arteta hasn’t really used him.”