The Gunners are well off the pace in the Premier League title race despite currently sitting in second, as Liverpool have surged 15 points ahead with just over two months remaining in the season. It's a grim outlook for the north London side, who have finished as runners-up behind Manchester City in each of the last two seasons and remain in that position despite the Sky Blues' decline.

Many pundits have pointed to Arsenal's lack of striker options as a major reason why the club cannot take the next step towards their first league title in more than two decades, and their current injury crisis among the team's attackers has not helped the situation.

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Gallas, who played four seasons for the Gunners, believes Arsenal's scoring woes are their own doing, pointing the finger at Arteta for not identifying the problem years ago.

"Signing a striker seems to be a blind spot for Arteta," Gallas told Prime Casino. "That’s why Arsenal have finished second for two seasons running, and it will be an unwelcome hat-trick this season.

"Every season, you always want to bring in one or two players. You need to add strength to what you have, and you need to keep players sharp, that’s what competition does to a squad.

"Arsenal should have signed a big striker in the summer of 2023, but they didn’t. They should have signed one in the summer of 2024, but they didn’t. Top managers don’t make that same mistake two seasons running. That is completely unacceptable.

"It’s unacceptable for Arsenal to be making the same mistakes year-after-year with the same manager. I don’t want to hear the excuses. I don’t want to hear about injuries. There are no excuses that are good enough when you’ve got a winning mentality. I don’t think he has it because Arsenal should have won at least one, maybe two titles and they couldn’t get it over the line.

"Arteta played the game. He knows that injuries can happen at any time, he knows that he can lose key players, that's why you need to have a big squad. If you want to win, you don't win the league with only 11 players."

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