Arsenal were embarrassingly dumped out of the Carabao Cup by League Two side Fleetwood Town with the Gunners’ attack in particular coming in for harsh criticism in the aftermath

Mikel Arteta had plenty of concerns to keep him up in the aftermath of Arsenal’s embarrassing defeat to Fleetwood - but one of them was of the Gunners’ own making.

One of the main issues facing the reigning Premier League champions at Highbury was their lack of attacking quality and potency. Coming up against a League Two side, Arsenal had just five shots on target and only managed to find the net once.

And even their goal came in somewhat fortunate circumstances as the ball bobbled towards Swedish forward Viktor Gyokeres in the penalty area, hit him and rolled over the line.

The strike will have been a big relief to the former Sporting man as he finally opened his goalscoring account for the season at his 11th attempt. Having scored 21 goals in all competitions during a mixed debut campaign at the Emirates, the hope was that his second season would have delivered an improved return.

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It’s not just Gyokeres' goalscoring - or lack thereof - that has the Gunners worried. The 28-year-old has looked wildly off the pace this term, having put together a miserable expected goals count of just 0.08 in the Premier League from one measly one shot.

To his defence, his opportunities have been at a premium, having made just one start in the league. But even in the games he has started - against Ipswich and Fleetwood in the Carabao Cup - Gyokeres has struggled to impose himself.

On his issues, former Arsenal star Emmanuel Petit said recently: "Gyokeres knows that he’s not the first priority and it will be difficult for him to play in some very important matches.

“We can see that he’s lost confidence and we don’t know what his future will be at Arsenal and the club looked at strikers in the transfer market and for me, that was a clear message to Gyokeres that he’s not welcome anymore.”

Usually that would lead to Arteta making the decision to bench the forward ahead of this weekend’s trip to Anfield to take on Liverpool. The only issue is that the Arsenal boss only has another underperforming forward to pick from.

Like Gyokeres, Kai Havertz is having his own struggles this season and continued those against Fleetwood. The German had seven shots in total at Highbury but bizarrely at no point looked like he would score.

Of course, Havertz is already enjoying a better season than his strike partner having scored three times against Coventry, Chelsea and Manchester City in the Community Shield so the reason stands that he might be the more preferred option.

But that can only last for so long. Away from his patchy form, Havertz has never quite managed to be a reliable option for Arsenal.

The former Chelsea man missed the vast majority of last season with various injuries, making just 12 starts in all competitions. And that is not an unfamiliar issue.

Fortunately for Arsenal, they have managed to cope with goals coming from elsewhere. Gabriel has chipped in with a number from set pieces and did the same in last weekend’s win against Everton alongside summer signing Ezri Konsa.

Midfielders Mikel Merino, Declan Rice, Bruno Guimaraes are no strangers to the scoresheet, while Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Eberechi Eze are all more than capable of finding the net. The only problem is that when they don’t, Arsenal are in trouble.

What they need is a reliable centre-forward to shoulder the goalscoring burden and that is neither Gyokeres nor Havertz. Julian Alvarez looked to be the man to claim that role, having strongly been linked with a move to the Emirates Stadium in the summer.

For whatever reason, the Gunners failed to convince the Argentine forward that a move to North London was right for him and he ended up staying with Atletico Madrid. And in the meantime, Arsenal agreed to a late deal that saw Gabriel Jesus leave the club for Barcelona.

Like Havertz and Gyokeres, the Brazilian had his own problems with fitness and form during his time at the Emirates and it was probably time for the two parties to go their different ways. But it would be difficult to imagine him being very much in the picture to start this weekend, had he remained.

It is no doubt easy to say that with hindsight. If Havertz and Gyokeres had been scoring regularly, some would be suggesting that the decision to stick with them and move Jesus on was a masterstroke. As it is, it looks like a mistake - as does the decision not to sign a more conventional centre-forward.

It now leaves Arsenal with a dilemma over whether to move for a striker in January which is a considerably more difficult and costly window in which to operate - or indeed wait for the summer to roll around. But that’s in another seven months.

That could potentially be a blessing or a curse. That period gives Havertz and Gyokeres time to rediscover their best form. But it also gives the pair an extended period in which their respective indifferent forms could extend or they could pick up injuries.

Either way, Arsenal boss Arteta needs to find a solution and soon or he could be watching some more displays like the one at Fleetwood.