Mikel Arteta has not ruled out handing Arsenal wonderkid Ethan Nwaneri a full debut against Tottenham this weekend.
The Gunners head into the latest iteration of the North London derby with a number of squad conundrums to solve. Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard have already been ruled out due to suspension and injury, while Mikel Merino is also sidelined in a triple midfield blow.
It means there could be plenty of changes from the Gunners’ previous outing - a 1-1 draw with Brighton at the Emirates. The most obvious names brought into the starting lineup could be Thomas Partey and Jorginho.
But Arteta could have a wildcard up his sleeve in Gunners academy graduate Ethan Nwaneri. The 17-year-old has been with Arsenal since the age of nine.
He has so far made a couple of appearances for the club and became the youngster player in Premier League history after appearing off of the bench against Brentford two years ago. Nwaneri has yet to make his first start for Arsenal but is one of a number of players under consideration by Arteta.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s clash with Tottenham, the Spaniard said: “A huge development, big credit to everybody working in the academy, starting with the coaches, Jack [Wilshere], Mehmet [Ali], the coaches around him, Per [Mertesacker], that have prepared the player to be in the right position now to shine and be prepared for the different context and demands he’s going to be facing right now.
“He’s been doing really well, physically he’s really mature, personally really mature, his game understanding has improved a lot. Now we let him do. He has enormous quality, a lot of talent and he needs space to shine.”
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Away from midfield, Arsenal also have another issue in defence. Italian defender Riccardo Calafiori also picked up his own injury during the international break.
But Arteta has refused to dwell on the problems facing his side and has promised to utilise the squad at his disposal. He added: “It’s always the difficulty of the matches and the opponents we’re going to be facing, for sure, but we have tremendous players, we have a really good squad, we’re really hungry and to deliver what we want, we need to be able to respond in these scenarios and the team is ready.”
After their clash with Tottenham, Arsenal face an array of tricky fixtures over the coming weeks. The Gunners start their Champions League campaign against Atalanta on Thursday ahead of next weekend’s showdown with Manchester City.
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