Arsenal have reportedly decided to make a formal offer for Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak and wish to beat Liverpool to the forward's signature.
The Gunners were given hope in the Premier League title race when the Reds drew 2-2 with Aston Villa on Wednesday evening, with Mikel Arteta's side now able to close the gap on the league leaders to five points should they win their game in hand.
However, question marks remain about whether the manager's current group of attackers can help close the gap given Raheem Sterling and Leandro Trossard are the team's only available senior forwards.
The club were criticised for failing to reinforce in the January transfer window, and with Kai Havertz joining Gabriel Jesus, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli on the treatment table, catching Liverpool looks like a difficult task.
CaughtOffside claim that Arsenal are currently showing the strongest interest in Isak of interested parties and are planning on making a formal offer in the summer window.
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Should Arsenal sign Isak?
One of Isak's greatest strengths as a forward is his ability to finish chances from seemingly difficult positions, and he would undoubtedly help bolster Arsenal's attack.
The Gunners have scored 51 goals in 25 Premier League games, making them the third-best offensive side in the top flight behind Manchester City (52) and Liverpool (62).
It should be noted that Arsenal's tally of 41.2 xG is only the seventh-best figure in the league, and no other side have over-performed their expected goals metric by as big a margin as the Londoners.
Perhaps the club should look to target more creative players in order to avoid having to rely on good finishing to score, with their failure to create opportunities seeing them drop points against the likes of Everton and Aston Villa this term.
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Nunez out, Isak in?
One of the major talking points from Liverpool's draw against Aston Villa was Darwin Nunez's miss in the second half when the score was 2-2, with the Uruguayan failing to convert a chance worth 0.75 xG.
The quality of the chance was almost equivalent to that of a penalty, but it is not the first time that Nunez has let boss Arne Slot down with his finishing.
In fact, the striker has only scored four goals in the Premier League in 2024-25, whereas Isak has found the back of the net 17 times from just 14.18 xG.
Slot has also previously remarked that his ideal striker is one that can facilitate and score, and while Diogo Jota has fulfilled this role well when fit, Isak fits the description and is more robust from an injury perspective.
Lewis Nolan
