Arsenal have been slammed for not bringing in a new striker over the January transfer window after what Jamie O’Hara saw from Eddie Nketiah on Wednesday night.

Why was Arsenal’s Nketiah slammed?

It was a difficult game for the Gunners on Wednesday night when they welcomed the reigning champions to the Emirates Stadium and it was a game decided on fine margins.

Unfortunately for the 23-year-old, Nketiah, some of the fine margins came through incidents he was at the heart of playing as Mikel Arteta’s lone striker.

This comes with the Gunners seeing their lead at the top of the table overturned over recent weeks in with Pep Guardiola’s side now top of the tree.

And speaking on TalkSport, O’Hara has questioned how Nketiah is Arsenal’s starting striker with Gabriel Jesus currently out on the sidelines through injury:

“It’s the two free headers in the box. They’ve left themselves short. I said this, Arsenal fans were digging me out saying Nketiah’s this, Nketiah’s that. Look, good player, don’t get me wrong, fantastic player. But you’ve left yourselves short. They’ve left themselves short up front, I’m sorry.”

When will Gabriel Jesus return from injury for Arsenal?

It must be said, on the whole, Nketiah has provided a respectable return for Arteta since the World Cup break which saw Jesus pick up his long-term injury issue.

In the five Premier League games after the break, Nketiah provided four goals from the starting XI, however, it is the games since where some issues have arisen.

The 23-year-old has not been able to step up in their last three games which have seen Arsenal take just one point from a possible nine.

There is no doubt Nketiah still has a lot of development to make given he has only made 27 starts in the Premier League up to now.

However, this is a player who recently signed a big money deal which saw his weekly wage rise to a reported £100k-per-week.

And when a player is earning that sort of figure, teams will expect them to step up when it matters and, unfortunately, he did leave some potential goals on the pitch against City.

Nketiah only recorded 30 touches throughout the game but the most damning statistic was that he missed two big chances in that game (via Sofascore).

Jesus is not expected to return until next month but there has been no exact date put on it by Arteta yet.

And with that in mind, you do have to question whether not having someone to challenge Nketiah may prove to be where Arsenal’s title challenge has taken a hit.