MIKEL Arteta insists that goal-getting responsibilities will be shared among Arsenal’s few fit attacking options as the club continues to try and hunt down Premier League leaders Liverpool.

The next must-win match sees West Ham visit the Emirates on Saturday afternoon.

All eyes will be on unlikely hero Mikel Merino after the midfielder emerged from the substitutes’ bench last weekend to score two goals in six minutes as the Gunners won 2-0 at Leicester City.

Arteta, though, remains adamant that there’s no one answer up front as Arsenal continue to seek solutions to their ongoing injury crisis which has resulted in Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus all being sidelined.

“We’re going to have to share that [the responsibility of scoring goals], we know that. We’re going to have various contexts; sometimes we’re going to have to make a sub because a player isn’t performing, or because the opposition is doing something else, or because someone’s on a yellow card, or it’s fatigue – that’s going to restrict what we do really in terms of the personnel.

“We have prepared for different scenarios, hopefully they will work as good as Mikel worked.”

Merino’s well-placed header that broke the deadlock at the King Power Stadium drew comparisons to former Manchester United and Everton midfielder Marouane Fellaini.

But Arteta isn’t one of those surprised by the Spaniard’s ability to find the back of the net. “I didn’t think that to be fair [on the comparisons to Fellaini], but Mikel has got that. He’s a goal threat, because he can smell danger, he can anticipate the action, he’s got really good timing to arrive into certain areas and then he obviously has the capacity to execute with that part of his body. He needed the delivery, he certainly had that as well, and he put it into the back of the net.”

Meanwhile, forgotten man Takehiro Tomiyasu took to social media this week to share an update on what he described as the “toughest period” of his career. It comes after the full-back was ruled out for most of 2025 following knee surgery.

Tomiyasu first had surgery on his right knee last August but was restricted to just a single Premier League appearance after recovery: a six-minute stint off the bench against Southampton in October.

“I’ve had a surgery on my knee a few days ago, and I’ve already started my rehab to do what I love the most again,” he wrote on Instagram. “It has been the toughest period in my career, and it carries on a bit more, but I won’t give up. Thank you for your support and see you again.”