In the early morning of January 17, Beijing time, Arsenal will challenge their rivals Tottenham Hotspur in the league. If the Gunners win, they will overtake West Ham back to fourth in the table. Tottenham, on the other hand, have yet to lose in the league since Conte took office last November; if they beat Arsenal, they will surpass the Gunners in points and hit the top four with the advantage of one less game. However, Arsenal, which is facing a shortage of midfield personnel, is actively looking for ways to make up for it.
At the moment, Arsenal's midfield is almost unavailable: Erdegaard is still in COVID-19 quarantine, Smith-Royce's groin injury has not yet healed, and Niles has moved to Roma. In addition, Xhaka received a red card in the League Cup match against Liverpool and needed to be banned, and Thomas and Herneny are competing in the Africa Cup of Nations, so arsenal midfielders are only Lobonga. According to the Telegraph, Arsenal director Edu is actively negotiating with Juventus on loan at Artur, and even hopes that the Brazilian midfielder will catch up with this weekend's North London derby. Artur was used by Barca in 2020 to swap for Pjanic, but it proved to be a lose-lose deal. Pjanic was cleared by Barca last summer, and Artur scored just one goal last season and has been on the sidelines this season. Arsenal want to loan Artur for half a year and bear the full salary of the lease term, while Juve are still hesitant to add a buyout clause.
Arsenal could also use youth star Patineau in the event of a failed trade with Artur against Tottenham, but he is more likely to be a substitute. In the eyes of the outside world, take Saka into the middle, use Chambers or Ben White to make cameo backs, and use such a makeshift midfield to fight Tottenham. In this regard, some fans said that it is really not possible for coach Arteta to serve as the starter and serve as the captain, do you think it is feasible~