Arsenal’s forward line has been stripped bare by injury. Mikel Arteta must find answers fast. Kai Havertz limped off with a hamstring problem before suffering a serious knee injury after a challenge from Manuel Ugarte on the opening day of the 2025/26 season. The injury required surgery and will keep him out for roughly half the campaign. That has pushed Arteta toward an unlikely emergency plan. A Mikel Merino centre-forward experiment born out of necessity rather than choice.
Mikel Arteta Tactical Emergency Demands Mikel Merino Shift
This is not the first time Arsenal’s attack has been thinned out by fitness problems. Injuries to both Havertz and Gabriel Jesus during the 2024/25 season already forced Arteta to weigh up Merino as a makeshift striker. This was long before Ugarte’s challenge compounded the problem again this term. With few natural forward options left fit, the Spaniard’s versatility has stopped being a nice extra and become one of Arteta’s most valuable resources.
Havertz’s knee surgery is the more serious blow of the two. He’s been ruled out for roughly half a season. Leaving a genuine gap at the top of Arteta’s attack, not just a temporary absence to manage around one fixture. Jesus, too, has struggled to string together long injury-free runs. Arsenal have repeatedly needed a plan beyond their listed strikers.
Arsenal supporters have grown used to Arteta’s willingness to improvise under pressure. This is a trait underlined by Arteta’s extended commitment to the Gunners earlier this season. That same adaptability is now being tested again. Merino has been asked to solve a problem few could have predicted when he first arrived at the club.
Luis de la Fuente Precedent & Overlooked attacking Traits
Arteta is not inventing this idea from nothing. Spain manager Luis de la Fuente has already shown what Merino can offer higher up the pitch. Deploying him alongside Mikel Oyarzabal in a more advanced role for the national side. That precedent gives Arteta a working blueprint rather than a leap of faith.
Merino’s physical presence and timing in the box have long been an underused part of his game at club level. Supporters who focus purely on his midfield discipline, his tackling and his energy in transition can easily miss just how dangerous he is arriving late into the penalty area. Spain saw that value before Arsenal fully leaned on it.
The original reporting on Merino’s positional shift points to a player whose attacking instincts have been available all along, simply waiting for the right circumstances to be used properly. Arteta’s current injury crisis has given him little choice but to test that theory in earnest.
Mikel Merino Ten Goals and Six Assists Prove Upward Trajectory
The numbers back the theory up. Merino has scored 10 goals and provided six assists in 23 appearances across all competitions for Arsenal. A return few of the club’s other midfielders can match. For a player signed largely as a ball-winner, that record hints at far more attacking upside than his reputation suggests.
Those figures matter because they show Merino’s output has not been a one-off spell. Repeated goal involvements across a sustained run of games point to a genuine upward trajectory. Which is exactly why the Mikel Merino centre-forward option now looks less like desperation and more like considered planning by Arteta.
It is worth remembering that every one of those goals and assists came while Merino was still used mainly from midfield. Arriving into the box rather than starting there. Pushed higher up the pitch on a more regular basis, there is a reasonable case his numbers could climb further still.
Arsenal Attack Options and Long-Term Tactical Evolution
Arteta’s recent Premier League team selections show a manager willing to shuffle personnel rather than stick rigidly to one system. Merino’s emergence as a forward option fits that pattern neatly. It is not presented as a permanent switch. It does widen Arsenal’s tactical toolkit at a genuinely difficult moment.
Once Havertz recovers and Jesus returns to sustained fitness, Merino will likely drop back into his more familiar midfield role. The experience gained leading the line, though, will not simply disappear. Arteta now has a credible alternative ready whenever injuries strike again. As opposed to a gap he has to paper over on the fly.
The bigger question is whether this injury crisis ends up accelerating something more permanent. If Merino keeps contributing goals at this rate, Arsenal may find they have stumbled into a genuine dual-threat option – rather than a temporary fix. Essentially, that would shape how Arteta plans his attack for seasons to come.
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