If the draw to Everton last month didn't do it, then being held away to Brighton - who are the kings of getting just a point - probably did. Arsenal are going to struggle to catch Liverpool.

In truth, they likely already were. However, beat Manchester United - one of the easiest tasks in the league right now - and the gap to the top will be eight points. If Liverpool win their other game in hand, against Everton in a yet to be decided upon Merseyside derby rescheduled meeting, then it will be 11.

Even a Manchester City-type run might not be enough for Arsenal. With the current squad size, injury issues, and form of attacking players, it is hard to see Mikel Arteta's own team not dropping points before Arne Slot's.

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The chance to try and change the direction of the season still exists. The January transfer window is upon us. Here, football.london has a look at the latest news around the club during this crucial period.

Nwaneri advantage lost

For 45 minutes at Brighton it looked as if Ethan Nwaneri was to be the total saviour for Arsenal. Playing in an unnatural right-wing spot, he opened the scoring on the south coast and once more made it tough to remember he is still only 17 years old.

When he didn't emerge after half-time alarm bells were ringing, especially with Bukayo Saka already out whilst Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard suffering from illness. The latter was fit enough to make the bench and come on as a substitute but is playing well below his best.

Nwaneri has already been asked to cover for both Saka and Odegaard this season. They are big shoes to fill, and it's no surprise that reinforcements are being spoken of in January.

At £51million, Inaki Williams was been the wide forward of choice over the summer with a possible 2025 move from Arsenal still there. As for further back, Dani Olmo was looked at after his exit from RB Leipzig became a sure thing. Barcelona paid £55million for him themselves.

Combined, Nwaneri may well have been holding together and saving Arsenal £106million in transfers for replacements. Only this week they were freshly linked with Matheus Cunha. His injury - "I don’t know, it’s a muscular thing and we had to take him off," said Arteta - poses yet more questions of an already stretched squad.

football.london says: Arteta has been criticised for his methods in developing Nwaneri but they have so far proven effective. Arsenal have a versatile, first-team-ready player who is already more impactful than Raheem Sterling and, in a lot of ways, Leandro Trossard as well.

His underuse of Nwaneri was highlighted previously, yet it would be wrong to say this injury has come about due to mismanagement on the other way. He has hardly been physically punished or put to the limit. It might just be one of those things.

It does open up a conversation for this window, though. Arsenal's targets are unlikely to be easily attainable before February 4, which makes it hard to see where the immediate squad improvement is coming from. However, it would be a risk to keep going with what is there, especially if Sterling really isn't going to play a meaningful role at all.

Arteta will hope that Nwaneri is back before long to keep pushing the other attackers, offering a different sort of option across the midfield and frontline. The same goes for Odegaard and Havertz. Saka is out and that probably does need addressing in some form, but for now there is no need for conspiracy over why it's Nwaneri paying the price.

Tierney offers

Kieran Tierney has turned down three moves to other Premier League clubs in order to complete a transfer to former side Celtic. The Telegraph suggest that he could have stayed in England after his exit from Arsenal was put in motion.

Shortly on from returning to action under Arteta following yet more injury troubles over the summer, it was revealed that he would not be extending his time in north London. Arsenal chose against triggering a contract clause to keep the left-back for another year.

He is now in talks with Celtic to get back to his boyhood team, football.london understands. Tierney was given the chance to sign for Leicester City, Brentford, and West Ham, it is said, but turned all three down.

football.london says: At this stage, Tierney just wants and needs regular football. If he can get that in an environment he already knows and is comfortable in, then it's even better. Arsenal would maybe have liked a Premier League move to boost the mid-season chances of getting a larger fee, but that is sort of irrelevant now.

Tierney has spent so long on the treatment table and out of favour that just letting him go in the easiest possible way, leaving it down to player and club, is fair and necessary. There will be no bad feelings when his time does officially come to end.