Emergency striker Mikel Merino banged in two goals in Arsenal’s 3-0 victory over Slavia Prague on Tuesday night – and looks set to continue up front at the Stadium of Light [Jay Patel/SPP]

EMERGENCY striker Mikel Merino looks set to be called into action once again this weekend when injury-hit Arsenal head to Sunderland.

With Viktor Gyokeres suffering from a muscle problem, Merino was tasked with leading the line during the Gunners’ midweek jaunt to the Czech Republic.

The midfielder responded with aplomb as he banged in two goals in a 3-0 win over Slavia Prague that saw Arsenal maintain their perfect start to the season in the Champions League – and extend their winning run to 10 matches.

With concerns that Gyokeres may have tweaked his hamstring and will miss Saturday evening’s outing at the Stadium of Light, Merino is ready to be the man of the moment yet again.

“You have to invent options, you can always have options if you invent them,” said Gunners boss Mikel Arteta. “But obviously, Mikel hasn’t played there before in his career, but we had a good experience of [when he played as a forward] last season, and the way he reacted and performed in that position.”

Praising the options that Merino gives to his squad, Arteta added: “It’s a joy to have him, I always say the same thing. It’s his versatility on the pitch, the things that he can do – it’s his mindset, it’s his leadership, it’s the way he is as a person. Today we are missing a lot of attacking players and we have to find different solutions – he comes in for the Champions League and scores two goals.”

Victory at Sunderland would see Arsenal stretch their lead at the top of the Premier League to nine points, and gift Gooners the chance to sit back in comfort on Sunday when title rivals Manchester City and Liverpool face each other at the Etihad Stadium.

While there will be plenty of focus on the Gunners’ depleted frontline, it’s at the other end of the pitch that the club’s impressive form has been forged.

The north Londoners have kept eight clean sheets in a row for the first time since 1903, and Arteta has warned rival attackers that his defensive unit wants to get even better.

After watching his side equal the club record set 122 years ago, he said: “That’s a long time ago so it tells you about the difficulty of achieving it.

“There is a lot of work there, obviously, to achieve that, and the most pleasing thing, probably, is not the record; it’s the mindset of the players.

“They are all talking about how we can still do better; we see one or two situations that we could have resolved better.

“So, if we do that we can keep improving and that record will have a bigger meaning.”