Sawt Falasteen - Arsenal's Merino has earned striking role: Arteta

The Spain international, who joined the Gunners from Real Sociedad in August 2024, had never been deployed as a number nine before he arrived in London.

But he scored nine goals in his first campaign at the Emirates, filling in for the injured Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus.

The 29-year-old is already on 11 goals for club and country this season, helping propel Arsenal to the top of the Premier League.

Arteta was asked by reporters whether Merino would be considered as a striker even when all his other players were available.

"I think he has earned at least the thinking behind it with the way he's performing and the impact that he's bringing to the team so that's a 'Yes'," he said.

The Arsenal boss said another option was for Merino to play as part of the forward line, alongside Havertz, Viktor Gyokeres or Jesus.

"There are things that we have prepared during the summer because of the squad that we have, and so far we haven't been able to do," he said.

Arteta said the club were assessing the fitness of Declan Rice, Leandro Trossard and William Saliba ahead of Saturday's match at third-placed Aston Villa.

England midfielder Rice went off late in Wednesday's 2-0 win against Brentford, while Trossard and Saliba have both missed the past two matches.

"We have another training session in the afternoon," said Arteta. "Every hour is going to be very important to see the availability of the players."

The Spanish manager said he has learned lessons from last season, when he also faced major injury headaches.

"We have injuries that are totally uncontrollable, especially the ones that were long-term last season," he said.

"This season, a lot of other things happened as well. Learn from the things that we can control as well and the areas that we can improve."

C.Hamad--SF-PST