Pundit claims Arsenal will win PL this season if they strengthen one key position in January

Pundit Lee Hendrie reckons Arsenal are a striker away from winning the Premier League.

The Gunners are second in the league after 16 games, a point behind leaders Liverpool, following their 1-0 loss at Crystal Palace at the weekend. John McGinn scored the only goal of the game in the seventh minute as Villa won their 15th straight league game at home to consolidate their place in third.

Mikel Arteta's side have had an impressive league campaign, with the Villa defeat being their second reverse of the season. They have seemingly continued from where they left off last season, leading the standings for a record 248 days before finishing five points behind winners Manchester City.

The Gunners appear determined to go all the way this season, but the absence of a prolific scorer could scupper their ambitions. Hendrie said on Sky Sports Premier League:

"I think if they bring a striker in, Arsenal win the league."

Gunners attackers have been in decent form this season, with Bukayo Saka (8), Gabriel Jesus (6), Leandro Trossard (6) and Eddie Nketiah (5). However, the arrival of a prolific marksman, like Hendrie says, could take the team to another level.

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"I'm very disappointed with the result" - Arsenal boss on Villa defeat

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is unhappy with the narrow loss at Villa Park. He reckons the Gunners were the better team on the night but lacked the clinicality up front to alter the result.

The Gunners failed to respond to McGinn's early opener and had a late equaliser ruled out for a handball in the build-up. The loss meant that they were usurped by Liverpool atop the standings.

"I'm very disappointed with the result, especially with the way we played," said Arteta (as per the Gunners' website. "I think we deserved much more than what we had. I thought we were the better team.

"I haven’t seen a team do what we did to Villa today since we were here in February. It wasn’t enough to win it because we lacked the accuracy in the opponent's box to put the ball in the back of the net with the amount of situations that we generated."

There's little time to dwell on the defeat, as the Gunners travel to PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday (December 12) for their final UEFA Champions League group game, having already qualified for the knockouts.