Nuno Espirito Santo almost had Martin Keown lost for words with his assessment of Arsenal’s team selection against Nottingham Forest.
Forest boosted their hopes of finishing in the top four after holding the Gunners to a 0-0 draw on Wednesday night.
Arsenal failed to score in a second consecutive Premier League match and increasingly look set to rue not buying a new striker in January.
Long-term injuries to Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz have led to Mikel Arteta experimenting with his attack.
This has included midfielder Mikel Merino operating as their starting striker, with the Spaniard doing so in the draw at Forest.
It’s an issue that Espirito Santo highlighted afterwards in a brutally honest evaluation of Keown’s beloved side.
Speaking on TNT Sports, Keown asked the Forest head coach: “In the 7-0 [win] against Brighton, you played with a [back] five that day.
“Today I wondered, ‘Ok, will you go with it?’ but you went with a four, what was the reason for that? Did you need more bodies in the midfield area?”
Espirito Santo replied: “As Arsenal doesn’t have a striker, so Merino played in that position, there’s no need for an extra body.
“The overload will be in the midfield so [when] it drops, it’s about containing the midfield.”
Keown offered little in response to the Forest boss’ response as the Arsenal legend said: “Yeah, ok.”
After losing at home to West Ham on Saturday, dropped points at Forest has further impacted the Gunners’ title hopes this season.
League leaders Liverpool beat Newcastle 2-0 on in Wednesday’s later kick-off to go 13 points clear of the north London side.
Arsenal have a game in hand, but their chances of going all the way appear to be diminishing as the season goes on.
Despite this, Arteta refused to rule out his side’s chances of glory during his pre-match press conference.
“Over my dead body,” he emphatically replied when asked if he will concede the Premier League title. “If not I will go home.
“Mathematically it is possible. Three days ago we could close a gap and you are like, ‘You are one and a half games away’.
“The difficulty is higher than three days ago but if you are going to win the Premier League you have to do something special.
“If you are going to win the Premier League with the circumstances we have you will probably have to do something that nobody else has done in the history of the Premier League.”
Arsenal face Manchester United and Chelsea in their next two league matches, with a potentially title-deciding match at Liverpool awaiting them in May.
