Mikel Arteta confirms Arsenal 'actively looking' for new signings in January transfer window due to injury issues

This season alone, Arsenal have been without the likes of William Saliba, Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Magalhaes, and Bukayo Saka, while Jurrien Timber, White, Havertz, Cristhian Mosquera, and Max Dowman are currently out injured. And due to this ever-changing situation, manager Arteta is mindful about where his squad is at heading into the second half of the season.

He told reporters: "We're going to be really aware of the situation and the timescale of certain players [returning from injury]. If you go from the front line to the back line, that's the depth that you need. When you look across the other clubs, they have 24 or 25 players, so there's nothing special in our squad. The thing is, we’ve had more injuries than expected, some of them not avoidable, I would say, but we want to be better, and we know how important the part of having the right availability with players is going to play in the season."

Since Arteta took over at Arsenal in December 2019, the club has spent around £1 billion ($1.34bn) on players but only have an FA Cup and Charity Shield to show for it. They have repeatedly finished runners-up in the Premier League title race in recent years and although they are currently top of the pile, Manchester City are just two points behind. In light of their injuries and their current position, the Spaniard is not ruling out incomings and outgoings. 

He added, "The window is there. We're Arsenal, and we have to be looking at it and saying ‘OK, what do we need?’ We have to be actively looking, and then can we do it or not? That's a different story, but our job is to always be very prepared because something can happen. Again, we assess every situation [with possible departures]. I leave that much more to (sporting director) Andrea [Berta] to understand what's happening in the market and then the individual players obviously. We have to assess where we are with each of them and get the best situation."

Arsenal round off 2025 with a crunch clash with Premier League title challengers Aston Villa at Emirates Stadium on Tuesday. The Villans are just three points adrift of the Gunners and beat Arteta's side at Villa Park earlier this month. Unai Emery's team played a big role in scuppering their title chances a couple of years ago with a win in north London but far from being daunted by this contest, Arteta is relishing it. 

He said, "We have a really tough match. We know their level, what they are doing, but it's a beautiful game as well to prepare and play. They merit to be there. Look at what they are doing and how consistent they've been, and what Unai has done with the club. I think they fully deserve that credit because they are doing it on the pitch where you have to show your level. We'll watch it back. I have a few ideas and things that we have to do better. It was quite cruel as well, the way we lost it, but we'll learn from it."

A win for Villa will take them level with Arsenal, which would give City the chance to go top if they beat Sunderland on 1 January. However, victory for the Gunners will show they mean business as they seek to win their first league crown since 2004.

On this match, Arteta added, "Well, that's what we want, that every opponent that comes here suffers, and we are as dominant as we were today for the majority of the game and against Villa we have a really tough match."