CHRIS SUTTON: Here’s why Mikel Merino shouldn’t be the reply for Arsenal… And I do know solely too effectively how onerous it’s to play out of place

Mikel Merino has one hell of a story to tell years from now and he isn’t alone. Most footballers will have a tale of when they were asked to play out of position. Sometimes, it works beautifully and you score twice as a substitute away to Leicester. Other times it’s ugly, and so here is my story.

I was a striker, you know that. But in October 1992, I was a lanky 19-year-old being asked to fill in as a centre back as Norwich were hamstrung by injuries to our defence. We travelled to Blackburn for a clash between first and second in the Premier League. I can still remember my relief at only being shown a yellow card for rugby tackling Alan Shearer when he broke behind.

Trouble is, Gordon Cowans scored from the free-kick anyway and we went on to lose a whopping 7-1. My defensive partner was Ian Butterworth, who was 28 and my captain. I can still hear him telling the press afterwards that I needed to keep my head up, as if I was to blame!

The only positive to my brief move into defence was it meant I could make note of opposition strikers’ movements — like Alan’s — and try to apply them to my own game when I went back to leading the line myself.

After this hammering, Norwich’s next game was against Carlisle in the League Cup. The bookmakers had me at 20/1 to score first because they thought I’d be in defence again. But I started up front and scored twice in a 2-0 win!

This brings me back to Merino and his own brace in Arsenal’s 2-0 win at Leicester last weekend. They had already been using Kai Havertz as a false nine. We may as well go one further and describe Merino as a false, false nine. His 69th-minute substitution went better than anyone could have imagined. If you are a player of Premier League standard, you will have a basic idea of how you should play in another position.

Mikel Merino scored a brace off the bench for Arsenal when playing out of position in attack

Merino placed himself in positions to be impactful, shown by his header to seal the victory

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta will hope he has stumbled upon a solution to their attacking issues

I’m not saying that means you might be any good at it, but you’d have a general understanding for what to do and Merino — a midfielder by trade — is clearly an intelligent footballer.

He was making the right runs off the ball. He was placing himself in positions to be impactful, such as his burst into the back-post area to bury Leandro Trossard’s cross to confirm the win. He did all this after only being told it was a possibility on the morning of the match.

I was used in central midfield once upon a time in the Champions League. In December 2003, it was Lyon versus Celtic, Juninho versus me in midfield. He scored twice and I scored once as we lost 3-2. The difference with a midfielder being asked to do an impression of a striker is a great deal of it is based on goalscoring instincts and having that calmness amid the chaos when there is a chance to score.

Merino had that composure to finish from two crosses and was signed partly because of how strong he is in duels, so boss Mikel Arteta was clearly confident he could handle tussling with Leicester’s defenders on this occasion. But deep down, it is hard to think that Arsenal have accidentally stumbled upon a get-out-of-jail-free card within their squad.

Merino did this to a side edging closer to the Championship. It would be a monumental ask for him to repeat his heroics again and again. To hold up the ball from the get-go. To link with the wingers. To do everything else that strikers need to do as well as scoring. Tougher tests await than leaky Leicester.

I’ll happily eat my words if he bags 14 goals between now and the end of the season as a part-timer in that position. That would truly make this a fairytale find.

His success came against a leaky Leicester side but tougher tests than the Foxes await  

Manchester City may have been crowned champions in 2021 without using a recognised striker in many of their matches, but it feels as if Arsenal have left themselves in a very awkward place as they look to win their first Premier League title since 2003-04.

Merino might be the best option they have currently, and I hope he can have more days like he did at Leicester. Yet there can be no questioning that Arsenal made their lives much more difficult via their lack of action in the January transfer window.