Mikel Arteta says Arsenal need to score '90 to 100 goals at least' in a season to compete with the Premier League's top teams.
Arsenal have been in good form of late but Wednesday's defeat to clinical, title-chasing Liverpool highlighted the gap that remains.
While top three Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea have already passed Arteta's benchmark Arsenal have scored just 59 times in all competitions, with 43 of those in the league.
Based on their current scoring rate they are on course to finish the league campaign on around 60.
Increasing Arsenal's goal threat will be Arteta's transfer priority in the summer with at least one and possibly two forwards likely to arrive. Additions in attacking positions further back are also wanted.
Arteta said: 'To be with the top teams in this season you need to score 90 to 100 goals at least. Somehow you need those goals in the team. Don't ask me how, but you need them.
'They have to come. That contribution, how it's done and how possible it is to happen, you have to find the right pieces to do that. But that's a non-negotiable, that's for sure.'
Arsenal have a string of potential striker targets under review including Real Sociedad's Alexander Isak, Everton's Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Lille's Jonathan David, Lyon's Moussa Dembele and Chelsea's Armando Broja, who is on loan at Southampton.
None of the strikers they are looking at, though, will be cheap or simple to secure. Still, Arteta is adamant that those hurdles simply have to be overcome to improve the situation.
'If you look at the history of the football teams, they always have that,' he continued.
'The Barcelona team that won six titles, between three players [Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar] they scored 100 goals for three years.
'If you don't have that then you need to have 30 clean sheets. In the last 11 games [this season] if we can score 11 goals and concede zero, we're going to win 11 games.
'Or we can score 35 and concede, we're still going to have 33 points but in a very different way.'
Arsenal's current top scorer is Emile Smith Rowe with 10 goals, followed by Bukayo Saka (nine), Alexandre Lacazette (six), with Eddie Nketiah, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard all on five goals.