1985: The Chris Whyte experiment

You didn't need to be a genius to work out what was coming. Two transfer windows without purchasing a centre forward was always going to be a gamble for Arsenal, especially when you consider that their one remaining option was clearly out on his feet in recent weeks. The injury to Kai Havertz was depressingly inevitable.

Already discussions have been rife about how Mikel Arteta copes with this crisis. Using Leandro Trossard through the middle seems the obvious answer, yet browsing social media - dangerous, I know - has thrown up various suggestions ranging from playing Raheem Sterling as a false nine, getting Mikel Merino to evolve into Havertz Mark II, to throwing defender Riccardo Calafiori up front and getting it in the mixer.

Playing Calafiori as a centre forward seems a long shot to say the least. Yet if Arteta did take this unusual step he would not be the first Arsenal manager to follow this path. Arsenal fans of a certain vintage will remember the Chris Whyte experiment in 1985, not a band plugged by John Peel on Radio One, rather the brainchild of Don Howe and John Cartwright.