Arteta has already hinted who he'd turn to in case of a midfield crisis

 By Danong

Arsenal sought to extend their winning streak and maintain their position near the top of the league heading into their match against Brighton. However as we know things didn't go as planned.

Due to an injury, Mikel Merino missed the match and will of course miss Arsenal's next match, the North London Derby at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as will Declan Rice because of the red card he picked up.

Without the two, Arteta's midfield choices are rather slim.

Jorginho and Partey could play together but in my opinion are not considered athletic enough so Arteta shouldn't risk starting them as a pair against Tottenham.

So, who fills the Merino/Rice midfield void?

The Arsenal boss recently spoke of how Jurrien Timber could also be a midfield option; at the time those were just comments which were made even before the Villa game, but we may now have to witness that first hand.

"Yeah, he is. He can play in various positions," Arteta admitted when asked if Timber is in contention to play midfield. "His versatility is one of his biggest strengths."

The Dutchman has been decent as an inverted fullback in the last two games, but there's a sense that he's done well given how long he was away due to injury.

Versus Spurs Arteta's best bet is to play Timber in midfield and give Riccardo Calafiori his first start at left-back.

With Timber and Partey as pivots and Martin Odegaard as a 10, Arsenal could have a powerful midfield to dominate the London Derby.