Mikel Arteta makes desperate transfer plea after crushing Aston Villa draw | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta has blamed Arsenal's limited squad depth for their struggles keeping up with Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table.

Saturday's 2-2 draw with Aston Villa saw Arsenal drop six points behind the leaders, who watched Darwin Nunez come off the bench to score twice in stoppage time to seal a 2-0 win over Brentford earlier in the day.

That firepower off the bench was lacking for Arsenal, who are without Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka through long-term injuries, and Arteta insisted his fatigued side simply cannot compete with a deep Liverpool squad.

"The subs made the impact and [Liverpool] managed to change the game," Arteta reflected. "And on our side, it was the opposite even though after conceding the two goals very close to each other, the danger was because I knew half the team was, that we could go downhill because we were physically drained.

"Suddenly, the team found another gear to go again and just put Aston Villa in their box and go and go again, trying to find the goal that we haven't been able to score at the end.

"When you look at the bench, probably you say I think we are very short."

Arteta also pointed towards concerns with Arsenal's lack of options as he admitted he was "very worried" about the hamstring injury suffered by centre-back William Saliba, who joined fellow defenders Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu on the sidelines for the Villa game.

The Gunners boss wants reinforcements and has been tipped to pursue a January move for RB Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesko before the end of the winter window.