Arsenal's striker solution?! Mikel Arteta reveals surprise candidate has hilariously volunteered to cover for injured Kai Havertz & Gabriel Jesus

Saliba has jokingly put himself forward to start playing up front after Arsenal lost Kai Havertz for the season on top of Gabriel Jesus' existing injury, having previously excelled as a forward when he was a lot younger.

Havertz's season-ending injury has left Arsenal with a huge problem. Jesus had already been ruled out long-term and the Gunners don't have another natural No.9 option in the first-team squad. Arsenal ended up not recruiting a striker in January, despite it being an obvious need, failing with a late attempt to land Ollie Watkins from Aston Villa.

"Willy is so funny," Arteta told reporters. "Straight away, it's one of his reactions. And it's true as well that he played [as a striker] and he used to score a lot of goals. But as he said, there's probably a lot of players who played in those positions when they were younger."

Arsenal's first task as a striker-less team is Saturday lunchtime's away trip to Leicester City. It is one of the kinder fixtures Arteta's team could wish for in the circumstances, with the Foxes in the relegation zone and possessing the second-leakiest defence in the entire Premier League - 53 goals conceded in 24 games, an average of 2.2 per game.