Arsenal should not give any thought to signing an "out of shape" free agent to solve their attacking shortage, Gunners expert Charles Watts has told Sports Mole.
Mikel Arteta's men came up trumps in their first game back from Dubai on Saturday afternoon, sinking Leicester City 2-0 in the Premier League thanks to a late double from emergency number nine Mikel Merino.
Before the Spaniard's heroic intervention, however, Arsenal's lack of an attacking focal point stuck out like a sore thumb following the news that Kai Havertz has joined Gabriel Jesus in the season-ending injuries club.
Arteta has not ruled out the possibility of Arsenal sign a free agent, options of which include Wissam Ben Yedder, Ryan Kent and ex-Chelsea man Diego Costa, who was the Gunners' public enemy number one during his time at Stamford Bridge.
However, Watts would be shocked to see the Gunners go down that avenue, saying: "Diego Costa, can you imagine? No, I don't think so. I'd be stunned if that is a route that that Arsenal go down.
"They resisted the urge to bring in top quality, fit and ready players in the loan market in January. So I'd just be stunned if they then went for players who are out of shape, not played for a fair while, very ageing. I'd just be really, really surprised by it.
Watts: 'I'd be stunned if Arsenal sign Costa'
"If there was a real standout option, maybe so, but some of those names, I just don't think so. We saw Diego Costa come back and have a bit of a swansong in the Premier League with Wolves and that didn't go too well. And he's older and has played less football since then."
As well as their crisis in the centre-forward role, Arsenal are still managing without first-choice wingers Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli due to hamstring problems, allowing Ethan Nwaneri and Raheem Sterling to stake their claim for regular starts.
While Nwaneri put in a man-of-the-match performance at the King Power, Chelsea loanee Sterling was found wanting yet again, and the expectation is that he will immediately lose his place in the XI when Martinelli returns, if not before then.
Martinelli has also struggled to hit his previous heights from his 15-goal 2022-23 season, but Arsenal are still believed to be preparing a new contract for the Brazil international, who has come up with seven goals and four assists from 35 outings in all competitions this season.
Theorising why Martinelli has underwhelmed for the past couple of years, Watts suggested that Arsenal's shift from a counter-attacking team to a side with more control has had a negative impact on the South American, as well as Granit Xhaka's exit and Oleksandr Zinchenko's demotion.
"I think Martinelli has been a bit of a victim of that left-hand side for Arsenal," Watts added. "You go back to when it was Xhaka, Zinchenko, Martinelli, you knew what that left-hand side was going to be.
Why Martinelli has been an Arsenal "victim" for past two years
© Imago
"Arsenal were a bit more of a counter-attacking team that season than they are now, because teams play against them completely differently than they did a couple of years ago. And that played into Martinelli's strengths as well. It's very hard now because he just doesn't have that space to really utilise his pace and running in behind.
"I do think he gets a bit of unfair criticism at times. But he has struggled to replicate 2022-23. Maybe this rest will do him good. But again, you just hope that when those two [Saka and Martinelli] come back, it's not all over by that point.
"Chelsea's coming up, that's going to be tough. You've got United away coming up, Nottingham Forest away, which is battle for second and third at the moment, that game. So some really difficult games coming up that they're not going to be available in.
"For Arsenal, you've just got to try and stay in touching and distance before you can get those two back. And then when you do, your options are going to be a lot stronger and things are going to look a little bit better."
Arsenal's hard-fought success over Ruud van Nistelrooy's men took them to within four points of leaders Liverpool in the Premier League table, although the Reds will re-establish a seven point advantage if they overcome Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday.
The Gunners return to action at home to West Ham United on February 22, one day after they discover their opponents for the last 16 of the Champions League.
Ben Knapton
