Four right wing options for Arsenal to consider ahead of their Liverpool clash

Arsenal have a selection headache at RW after Max Dowman saw red – literally and figuratively – at Fleetwood Town.

His dismissal means he will miss the trip to Liverpool as well as the upcoming Hull City and Newcastle United games unless the club are successful in their appeal against his three-match ban (very likely to fail).

Dowman’s red comes hot on the heels of Bukayo Saka’s injury versus Bayern Munich last week. The 25-year-old picked up a thigh problem early on in that match and will be out until the Xmas period, leaving Mikel Arteta down to the bare bones on the right flank.

Four right wing candidates for Arsenal to consider ahead of their trip to Liverpool

Here are the four-ish remaining options at his disposal ahead of the Anfield visit to come on Sunday night.

Option #1: Noni Madueke

All the drama over who to start and yet the answer was obvious all along: Noni Madueke will start at RW for Arsenal.

It would not even be in doubt only for the surprise bombshell in midweek that Madueke had injured his ankle after the Everton match, a setback which saw him left out of the squad for the Carabao Cup clash with Fleetwood.

News of this knock casts a slight doubt on his availability for Liverpool. However, it might be a minor issue and Arteta is often abundantly cautious when a player has any sort of problem, meaning there is every chance that the Fleetwood omission was just him wrapping his only true RW option in cotton wool before Liverpool.

You can only hope that is the case.

Option #2: Christos Tzolis

Christos Tzolis is just about the only other credible option at right wing, if he is fit enough to make it back at all.

The Greek international has not featured for Arsenal since the 3-0 loss at Brighton back in September but the Sun’s Gunners reporter, Simon Collings, has revealed how he is “pushing hard” to make it into the squad for Sunday.

One can only pity him. As if it was not enough to carry the LW burden alone after a disappointing end to the transfer window, Tzolis might now have to do the RW work solo as well – a position with which he is less familiar.

And to do it after two months out injured. At Anfield.

He has already drawn lots of criticism for his anonymous efforts on the road this term, so it is unlikely that this proposition would go well.

Good to have him back in general, though.

Option #3: Max Dowman

Suppose Arsenal are successful in their appeal? Then Max Dowman would be free to play for them at Liverpool.

It is a big responsibility for such young shoulders but Dowman has the talent to make it work and the boss has already shown how much he trusts him; he brought him off the bench against Everton back in March during the title run-in and did so again in April when the game hung in the balance against Bournemouth.

But any talk of his involvement is superfluous because the ban will be upheld. It is harsh considering the forceful, endangering nature of the tackle by Harrison Neal but the reaction from Dowman – no matter how soft – still comes under the category of violent conduct and so Arsenal do not have much of a regulatory leg to stand on.

He had every right to be upset.

Option #4: Mikel Merino

He can do everything else, why not excel at RW too?

Mikel Merino has never played there before but such details have never bothered him in the past. He took to the striker role in 2024/25 like a duck to water and seems like the type of player who can put in a 7/10 effort no matter where he plays.

And if not for footballing reasons, then Arteta could otherwise do it to send a message to the board after their summer failings. Merino at RW is a warning for the terror football that he will wreak if the club does not get its chequebook out and finally land him a winger signing in the upcoming January transfer window.

Merino on the wing paving the way for an Eli Kroupi Jr. swoop in the new year? Stranger things have happened. Maybe.

Knowing Arsenal, they will just recall Ethan Nwaneri from Borussia Dortmund (no offence to Ethan, of course).