Mikel Arteta has allayed injury fears over Ethan Nwaneri following Arsenal’s damaging Premier League defeat by West Ham.The highly-rated teenager started on the right of an attack led by Mikel Merino for the injury-hit Gunners in Saturday’s London derby at the Emirates Stadium,

Ethan Nwaneri was substituted late in Arsenal’s defeat to West Ham on Saturday and asked if there was an injury concern, Mikel Arteta believed the youngster was just struggling with fatigue. It was a bad afternoon for the Gunners as they were beaten 1-0 at home by the Hammers,

Ethan Nwaneri has become an important figure for Arsenal in recent months, stepping up to fill the gap left by the injured Bukayo Saka. The teenager, one of the latest talents to emerge from the club’s youth system,

Mikel Arteta says Ethan Nwaneri is developing faster than Arsenal expected and they want to give him the freedom to express himself on the pitch. Nwaneri has broken into the first-team squad this season and he has already scored seven goals.

Arteta has admitted that Nwaneri’s progression has been faster than anyone at Arsenal expected, and he has revealed the two things that have surprised him – confidence and decision-making. He said, as per the Evening Standard: “It (Nwaneri’s development) is probably much faster than we all expected.

Arsenal have been pleasantly taken aback by Ethan Nwaneri's seamless transition to becoming a first-team regular as Mikel Arteta calls on him to produce consistently

Arsenal were toothless in attack from the start and were punished just before half time, as man-of-the-match Aaron Wan-Bissaka sent in a wonderful ball for Jarrod Bowen to meet with a diving header from a few yards out.