Arsenal fail to sign Alvarez and with no elite in, are Arteta's team short in the forward?

No Julian Alvarez to Arsenal. He joins Morgan Rogers and Vinicius Junior in not moving to the Premier League champions this summer. And Mikel Arteta has missed out on the star attacker he wanted.

After a summer-long transfer saga, Alvarez will now stay at Atletico Madrid after he tried to force through a move to Spanish rivals Barcelona, with Arsenal unsuccessful in convincing him to move back to the Premier League while waiting in the wings.

Speaking after the Champions League final defeat to Paris Saint-Germain, Arteta demanded Arsenal be "ambitious" and "fast" in the transfer market. The jury is very much out about whether Arsenal delivered on those two ambitions.

Arsenal started the summer with Rogers as their No 1 forward target. He went to Chelsea in a £117m, which Arsenal thought was too steep. They moved to an ambitious Vinicius Junior approach - but he stayed at Real Madrid.

Then came the Alvarez saga which ran right on until Deadline Day - but the Argentine never showed the desire to move to Arsenal. Christos Tzolis ended up being the only front three arrival at Arsenal this summer.

And despite that largely unsuccessful window in terms of the forward line, Arsenal still allowed Gabriel Martinelli, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus to leave - then also let Ethan Nwaneri join Borussia Dortmund on loan.

Four attackers out, one in. Are Arsenal putting their season at risk by being short in attack, not just in quality but in numbers too?

Left wing is a delicate area of the pitch, with Tzolis the only recognised player in that position between now and January.

Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke can fill in that position, but they are also tasked with providing cover and rotation for Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka in other areas of the Arsenal attack.

Eze showed after coming off the bench against Aston Villa that he can play in that left wing role and do a good job. But neither he nor Tzolis are really the pacy, one-on-one explorers that Arteta likes. Neither player tends to go in behind defences in the same way Martinelli used to.

Can Tzolis hold the left wing burden by himself for most of the season? Speaking to those who know him, one of his traits is the ability to recover from matches and go again three days later.

And at Club Brugge last season, Tzolis played just short of 4,400 minutes for the Belgian club. That's around 900 minutes short of what Martinelli and Trossard managed combined for Arsenal last season. On that basis, Tzolis may need to play around 10 more games this season compared to last - is that too many?

Another tense area of the pitch is centre forward. With Kai Havertz and Viktor Gyokeres in that area of the field and Jesus now departing, Arsenal are one player short in this position compared to last season.

Earlier this summer, Arteta revealed he feared the Premier League title had got away from Arsenal in November when the Gunners had just one striker available in Mikel Merino - who can of course fill in that role as well.

So weakening the centre-forward position looks a slightly peculiar decision, even though Jesus has barely featured for Arsenal in 2026.

Are there reasons for Arsenal to be positive?

Arsenal can say they have strengthened it without having to buy another player in the front three. The £75m signing of Bruno Guimaraes will add another dimension to the Gunners' attack.

Last season, the Brazilian was one of the top players in the Premier League at breaking the opposition backline - and put in an impressive cameo on his Premier League debut against Villa.

There is also the case of 16-year-old Max Dowman, who is set for a bigger role in the first-team compared to his 'wildcard' status last term. He could fill in at the right wing and No 10 roles while the likes of Madueke and Eze are needed elsewhere.

Arsenal also have enough in their squad for two players in every position - with some positions having three. The Gunners revolutionised their medical department over the summer, so if that leads to a better availability record for key players such as Saka and Odegaard, then that can add a new level to the forward line.

Part of Arsenal's excellent squad depth was addressing a concerning area of the team created by William Saliba's long-term injury, which forced them into the market for a new defender in Ezri Konsa.

With Jurrien Timber and Ben White not holding the best injury records - the latter even struggling against Villa on Monday night - that additional cover at right-back is useful.

In White, Konsa, Cristhian Mosquera and Piero Hincapie, Arsenal also possess a formidable back-up defence behind their regular back four - one that many Premier League teams would have as their first-choice backline.

But Man City have made some statement signings in this transfer window - revolutionising their midfield with Elliot Anderson, Ayyoub Bouaddi and Enzo Fernandez.

Chelsea did not just pinch Rogers away from Arsenal, but they also addressed several weak areas of their team - namely the goalkeeper, defence and experience sides of the squad.

Both those teams can say they are equipped to take on Arsenal in a title fight, while the Gunners can feel slightly disappointed with how their transfer window has gone from an attacking point of view.

Has the gap between Arsenal and the rest slimmed down? That question will be put under the microscope straight away on Sunday.

Watch Arsenal vs Chelsea live on Sky Sports Premier League this Sunday, with kick-off at 4.30pm...