Arsenal's Strikers Have Stopped Scoring Just as Liverpool's Isak Catches Fire

Arsenal are top of the Premier League, unbeaten in the competition and level on points with Manchester City. They are also, by one damning measure, not scoring enough from the one position that is supposed to guarantee goals. Kai Havertz and Viktor Gyokeres have not scored a Premier League goal between them since early September, and Arsenal's defenders have outscored their forwards in all competitions this season, according to Sky Sports.

The timing could hardly be sharper. Arsenal travel to Anfield on Sunday to face a Liverpool side powered by Alexander Isak, the striker Arsenal themselves once coveted before he joined for £125m from Newcastle and has since scored six goals this season. For a title challenge built so far on defensive solidity, this is the moment the goalscoring question gets tested against a direct rival.

Arsenal's goal drought by the numbers: Havertz and Gyokeres under the microscope

Havertz began the season in prolific form. He scored in the Community Shield win over Manchester City, then added Premier League goals against Coventry and his former club Chelsea in the opening weeks, according to Sky Sports. Since then, though, the 27-year-old has gone 561 minutes, more than nine hours of football, without finding the net in any competition.

Gyokeres barely getting shots away

Gyokeres's numbers are arguably more alarming. The club's record signing has managed just one shot, a looping header against Nottingham Forest, in 148 Premier League minutes this season, and has not registered a single shot in 160 minutes of Champions League football.

• Havertz: 561 minutes without a goal in all competitions after a fast start
• Gyokeres: one shot in 148 Premier League minutes
• Gyokeres: zero shots in 160 Champions League minutes
• Club-wide: Arsenal's defenders have scored more goals than their strikers in all competitions this season

Gyokeres's only goal in weeks came in Tuesday's Carabao Cup exit, when he bundled in a scrappy equaliser against Fleetwood Town to force penalties, which Arsenal went on to lose. It is a measure of how thin the margins have become up front that a goal against a League Two side in a cup upset counts as his most notable contribution of the autumn.

Why Arteta is sticking with Havertz despite the dry spell

Arteta's loyalty to Havertz is not blind faith, it is a calculated bet on pedigree and all-round contribution over pure output. Havertz started and scored in the Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain in May, and he has been Arteta's first-choice central striker since returning from injury last season, per Sky Sports.

A spending pattern that explains the gap

There is a structural explanation for why Arsenal find themselves short of a genuine goalscorer. Since Arteta's appointment in 2019, the club have spent only £224.5m on forwards, compared with £550.1m on midfielders and £350m on defenders. That imbalance has produced a squad capable of grinding out results without scoring freely, but it leaves Arteta picking between two strikers who, right now, are both struggling to turn chances into goals.

Arsenal's results so far have masked the problem. They have won all but one of their opening eight Premier League games and taken seven points from a possible nine in the Champions League, enough to sit top of the table despite the drought up front.

The Fleetwood fallout: Dowman's red card and a wider warning sign

If the striker numbers suggest cracks beneath a flawless table position, the Carabao Cup exit to Fleetwood Town made those cracks visible. Arsenal lost on penalties to the League Two side, with young winger Max Dowman sent off late in the game.

Arsenal are reportedly set to appeal the red card given to young winger Max Dowman in the Carabao Cup defeat against Fleetwood Town, according to CaughtOffside.

Two outlets, one consistent picture

Both Sky Sports and CaughtOffside frame the Fleetwood defeat and its aftermath as evidence of a squad showing signs of strain even while topping the league. The accounts align on the key facts, an unexpected cup exit to lower-league opposition, a red card now under appeal, and a Gyokeres goal that arrived via a shootout-forcing equaliser rather than any sustained attacking threat. Neither the red card appeal nor the cup exit will show up in the league table, but both feed a narrative that Arsenal's squad depth and attacking edge are being flattered by results.

What it means for Sunday's Anfield test against Isak's Liverpool

Sunday's fixture at Anfield is the sternest examination yet of whether Arsenal's goal shortage is a false dawn concern or a genuine structural weakness. Liverpool arrive with Isak firing, six goals into his Anfield career after Arsenal themselves had admired him before his £125m move from Newcastle.

A direct comparison Arteta cannot avoid

The contrast will be impossible to ignore if Isak adds to his tally while Havertz and Gyokeres continue to misfire. Arteta's options are limited: keep faith with Havertz's all-round game and Champions League pedigree, or gamble on Gyokeres finding sharpness against a defence that has conceded regularly this season. Kick-off is 4.30pm on Sunday, with the match live on Sky Sports from 3.30pm.

For bettors and fans alike, the team-news question before Anfield is as much about which striker starts as it is about the scoreline. Arsenal's title credentials have so far been built on defensive resilience rather than firepower, and a result at Anfield, whichever way it goes, will say a great deal about whether that approach can survive contact with a genuine rival boasting a red-hot number nine.