Mikel Arteta and Andrea Berta Arsenal transfer reality laid bare after triple injury blow

Plenty has changed for Arsenal but yet, in a way, nothing has. Millions can be spent on a new striker, supporting wingers, midfield reinforcement, and backup goalkeepers or centre-backs but Mikel Arteta still finds himself fighting the same battle.

If Bukayo Saka goes down there is nobody close to his quality on the right, even if Noni Madueke promises to be an exciting and much more able deputy. Martin Odegaard is in a similar spot in midfield.

Eberechi Eze's arrival will bolster the attack and ensure there are more options for Arteta before Mikel Merino, Ethan Nwaneri, or Leandro Trossard have to go up front, but he faces weeks (if not months) with one natural centre forward available. This was not why they signed Viktor Gyokeres.

Being able to rotate and substitute in and out between Kai Havertz and Gyokeres may well have been the biggest single boost to the team, not necessarily Gyokeres' goals, which will be reduced from his time in Portugal. After all, being able to afford changes up front without a significant drop off is not something Arteta has been privileged enough to have during recent title challenges.

His options below the surface have not been as good, if there at all, compared to Liverpool and Manchester City. This summer, the window of Andrea Berta, looked to change that.

Havertz and Gyokeres could compete and help each other, offering 90 minutes of fresh No.9 action per game without risking too much fatigue or similarity. Nwaneri and Eze could come in for Odegaard when needed to take the workload off a player who has had too much on his shoulders for too long.

Madueke was a genuine alternative to Saka and has enough about him on the left to keep Gabriel Martinelli sharp (or out of the team). If Arteta needed a direct wide man then Madueke could run down either flank.

These are luxuries he has been without for years. They were limited to less than two matches. Now Havertz is out for a scarily unspecified period and Odegaard and Saka had to go off early against Leeds United with problems of their own, the same fears have cropped up.

Arsenal have a deeper squad this season but how will it cope when missing three of the main attacking pillars? If these injuries last one month each, say, then it will rule a trio of key forwards out of games against Manchester City, Liverpool, and Newcastle United.

The Champions League group stage starts after the international break. Is this group ready for two games a week at the highest level? Berta and Arteta will hope so.

They have built to deal with scenarios like this, but doing so this early on is going to be a tricky task to navigate. How will Madueke compare to Saka when playing more minutes and starting more games? Can he form the same right-sided triangle without Odegaard or the grooving next to Ben White?

Will Eze hit the ground running? He is a seriously high-quality player but took until December 29 to score two Premier League goals last season. He is a game-changer but also prone to quieter periods.

In a better team and with more possession, the hope is that he scales up, but he is not yet proven in Europe. There is an element of the unknown, even if there is also confidence that he can be the difference.

Should he play off the left, would Nwaneri be capable of operating at the standards of Odegaard as a No.10 for a prolonged stretch? If Eze plays there instead, are Martinelli and Trossard good enough to fire Arsenal on from the left?

These are all questions that Arsenal will have to answer if their scans don't come back with good news. Arteta certainly believes he can deal with it.

"Well, that's all we need," he said when asked about the amount of business done already this summer strengthening the squad. "I think the other way is not realistic. To survive at the levels that we want for 10 months. Because none of the other top teams in the league do it. So why are we going to be different?

"They still have even bigger squads than we have. So that's the minimum that we can have to compete and be able to do what we want."

Arsenal do now have a squad, on paper, able to fight with the best even after injuries. Will this trio of hurdles be too much too soon, though?

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