Darwin Nunez stat proves why Arsenal's title hopes could be over in 10 days if problem isn't solved

Arsenal’s title hopes could be over in a matter of weeks unless they make a major move in the transfer window.

The Gunners re-discovered their scoring touch on Saturday, easing past a dismal Crystal Palace 5-0.

Mikel Arteta’s side were in danger of seeing their title challenge completely unravel having won just one of their previous seven matches in all competitions before the Palace encounter.

In particular, much had been made of the poor form of the club’s attackers with Gabriel Jesus having scored just three Premier League goals all season, Gabriel Martinelli having scored four (two of which came on Saturday) and Bukayo Saka the club’s top scorer with six league goals.

One statistic that proves the Gunners’ inefficiency in front of goal is that Darwin Nunez, a notoriously unreliable marksman, has now scored more goals (25) than Saka (24), Martinelli (21) and Jesus (18) in all competitions since signing for Liverpool last summer.

To retain a chance of claiming a first Premier League title in two decades, Arsenal will likely need to sign a striker in the final 10 days of the transfer window, with Ivan Toney and Victor Osimhen having both been linked by various publications.

Nevertheless, on Saturday Arteta expressed that he was happy with his team’s efficiency in attack.

The Spaniard said via Sky Sports: "I'm very pleased, clean sheet and five goals, win the game and performance. I had a really good feeling after we left the stadium after Liverpool, the performance was there but the results were not.

"Today we were much more efficient in the opponents' box particularly than the last few games. Last few games we had moments playing better than today but this is about scoring goals.

"Set-pieces are a big part of us, especially against teams that want to defend deeply. It is a good way to win games. The success of last season was the amount of players who scored more than 10 goals and we are going to have to do that again.

"We used moments of the game we knew could exploit really, really well. The subs did really well and had a big impact. Everyone was really focused.

"This is the second part of the season and we want to tackle it with a lot of aggression and motivation. I would like to play three days after but it is what it is. We will keep preparing and we must continue to do better and improve as a team."

Topics: Football, Darwin Nunez, Arsenal, Mikel Arteta, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli

Chris Byfield

Sport journalist with experience writing on football, rugby, boxing and the Olympics. I'm also a Crystal Palace fan. Please don't hold this against me.