"No, hopefully not" - Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta responds to Ethan Nwaneri injury reports
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has opened up about Ethan Nwaneri's injury concern during their defeat against West Ham United on Saturday. He said that he hoped it was just fatigue instead of a knock.
The Gunners hosted West Ham at the Emirates Stadium in the Premier League on Saturday. Jarrod Bowen gave the Hammers the lead in the 44th minute after an excellent counter-attack. Myles Lewis-Skelly was then sent off in the 73rd minute after denying Mohammed Kudus a clear goalscoring opportunity.
Mikel Arteta replaced Ethan Nwaneri in the 81st minute with Raheem Sterling. The youngster appeared to be hobbling a little while coming off the pitch, leading to injury speculation. When asked about it, Arteta responded (via Metro):
"No, hopefully not, he was just fatigued I think."
Nwaneri, 17, has been excellent for Arsenal this season. The academy graduate has scored seven goals and provided one assist in 25 games across competitions.
The Gunners will hope he hasn't picked up any injury as they are already short in attack. Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus are out for the season while Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka are also a few weeks off from returning to action.
Mikel Arteta assesses Arsenal's performances in West Ham defeat
Despite being down to 10 men for the last 17 minutes, Arsenal dominated possession against West Ham with 68%. They made 20 attempts on goal with just two being on target while the visitors had just five attempts with two on target.
However, Graham Potter's side made one of their chances count as Bowen got on the end of Aaron Wan-Bissaka's cross in the 44th minute to score. After the game, Mikel Arteta expressed his displeasure at his side's performance, saying (via Arsenal.com):
"Very disappointed, obviously very angry as well. I think we have to congratulate West Ham for the victory and the game that they played but I think a lot on our side we never got right.
"It didn’t allow us to get enough momentum, enough sequence of play with positive action that could deliver into situations of threat for there and even though all the ball we had, then 20 shots, I never felt that we were at the standards or the levels we needed to have more threat and then don’t allow them to run. We lost a lot of balls and we allowed West Ham to run into very dangerous positions."
The Gunners are second in the Premier League standings, eight points behind Liverpool. They will next face Nottingham Forest away on Wednesday, February 26.
