Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Ethan Nwaneri was substituted at half time the 1-1 draw with Brighton due to a muscular problem.
The 17-year-old winger had given the Gunners the lead on 16 minutes – his fifth goal of the season – but he didn’t reappear for the second half. Initially, the decision to replace him with Gabriel Martinelli was attributed to the youngster picking up a booking for time-wasting, but Arteta later confirmed to BBC Match of the Day that the decision wasn’t tactical.
“It’s really bad news because I think we’ve lost him, we had to take him off at half-time with some muscular issues,” he said.
Nwaneri started on the right flank for the second consecutive game in the absence of Bukayo Saka and Raheem Sterling. With his impressive impact, losing the England Under-21 international to injury adds to the manager’s frustrations, especially with seven more games on the horizon this month.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, the manager lamented his side’s failure to execute the basics, which handed further initiative to Liverpool in the title race.
“Obviously we wanted to win the game. This is a tough place to come and they are a very good side. We started well, scored a beautiful goal and we were in control,” he said.
“In the second half we didn’t really grab the game or dominate enough to have certain moments and be more of a threat in their half. But defensively we did not concede much apart from the transition moment with Minteh.
He added: “When you are playing every three days or less than that you cannot with the amount of injuries and situations maintain the level of performance and competitiveness. Today we lacked it in the second half.
“Today was not about fatigue. it was about the simple things that we have to do in ball possession to give chances and dominate the game in the right areas.”
Fucking hell
Fuck sake
He looked better on the right than the guy with 150 PL games under his belt. Martinelli offers nothing on the right at all.
PL is gone unless there is a miracle. We must concentrate on the cups with all our ability.
So you’re telling me a left winger is better on the left side of the pitch than a right winger ? You should send your resume to Josh Kroenke.
Ethan is not a winger, Martinelli actually is one and has played more minutes on the RW and has significantly more experience.
I guess you have never watched Robert Pires. He was magnificent on the left but total garbage on the right because this is totally a different job.
Ethan played at this position several time during his academy’s days.
But I guess the 2025 trend is to scapegoat Martinelli.
Every player plays different positions in the academy, you can make the same argument for Martinelli.
It probably has come out like that but my intention was to compliment Ethan and not scapegoat Martinelli.
Concede this one and move on, reality check.
He only looked dynamic because the midfield was so static and the right back offered no overlap. It’s also not a 1:1 comparison, as one is a midfielder and the other is a forward. Martinelli looked fine when he came on, he was starved of service and consistently fouled by estupinan (as were rice, merino, partey, et al), though martinelli was getting it off the ball.
I thought Martinelli did well to be on the bench due to health issues and therefore did well to even play. Can’t therefore be blamed for trying to help the team.
I also found Sky ignored the virus going throgh the team. Whilst not an excuse, strange they did not acknowledge it. With some teams, one missing player is highlighted over and over again.
OH, FUCK OFF!
The injury gods really hate us.
This season really does suck balls.
it doesn’t just suck ping pong balls, it sucks hairy, royally sized bowling ball-sized testicles
that’s too many adjectives for how big those testicles are that it sucks but I won’t correct it, because that’s how much it sucks
Elliot should be here any second with a Lawnmower 2.0 ad.
You forgot “salty”.
Remember though, only pep has injuries to deal with, according to the press, it’s why they’re struggling so badly this year.
How many ballon d’or players have we lost? Ours don’t count
Fucking hell, it’s got to the point where I might have to find joy in football by watching the rest of the league like one of those sad “neutrals” we’ve always heard about 😨 You’ve driven me to this injury Gods!
Okay, first things first, I’m shit at making predictions.
However, call me naive or whatever you want but after today I dont feel so down about Arsenal’s title chances, maybe because i already accepted the fact they are slim to none.
But, there’s still plenty to play and Liverpool’s calendar will only get worse as we approach the business end of the season. We need to stay within distance and see what happens, unlikely, but in football you never know.
You probably believes in Santa Claus mate. Sorry.
Believe i mean
I did start by saying I thought our chances were slim to none, I suppose you missed that.
Until is mathematically impossible, we need to be in the hunt. Football isn’t an exact science and lots of things can still happen.
Thank you. We have the same amount of points after 20 games this season as we had last, with better goal difference. If Liverpool slips up, we’ve got a chance.
You are right.. can’t literally give up. A bad result with more mitigations than usual namely the short recovery time for an under the weather squad. Never know if Liverpool will choke till they haven’t.
But this latest injury feels like.. how are we looking for 25/26 season? And perhaps any January business should be long term planning not rescuing this seasons challenge..
once you‘re on a hi, everything can happen, i don‘t see pool break away… ☹️
Sucks but please GJ right wing and Havertz back up top. we can’t afford another insipid display from Martinelli on the right. He is ineffective.
I’m sick of martinelli bumping into defenders with ball on his feet…. 2022 season: oh saliba got injured…. 2023: season oh if only we won the game against villa 2025: oh we’re hit by injuries. Saka aside , which of those injured players you can call a game changer…
800 million spent but we still don’t have a striker or a back up for saka. WE HAVEN’T WON A LEAGUE SINCE 2004.. EVERY SEASON WE ALWAYS COME UP WITH EXCUSES.. I’m so tired mate
Could this be the deciding moment to dip into the Arsenal pocket this January….I doubt it.
Spend the freaking money already !!! One lethal striker, a real top class finisher and a real quality back up for Saka we will win it all. Is anyone at the wheel there? please wake up and provide what’s needed Stan.
Ever since Dr. Zaf has become the club doctor our muscle injuries have gone through the roof, we really need to look into improving the medical team
there’s no team fighting for top 6 that doesn’t have several key players missing due to injury. brighton, while not in that group, was also missing like 5 key players today. i don’t wanna hear a single person saying this is down to bad luck or injuries. we’re in the same boat as everyone else and competing in exactly the same circumstances — including poor refereeing which everyone in this comment section likes to cry about. yes refs are shit but they’re shit every match, not only for arsenal. stop thinking you’re special and become aware we’re just not good… Read more »
Which key players are Liverpool missing? They’ve been very fortunate with respect to injuries this season (to date). We were pretty damn fortunate last season… and performed to the level of a title winning side. I’m not contending that either this result or our position in the title race is purely down to injuries/luck, but to imply these things aren’t impactful or that “we’re in the same boat as everyone else” is utter nonsense. We have it better than some, but probably worst than most. If nothing else, the majority of our injuries have been at the same positions at… Read more »
alisson, diogo jota, konate and bradley, they all went missing at the same time. if i was a liverpool fan i’d argue we haven’t had a consistent parter for van dijk for the whole season cause of injuries. yes we’ve had worse or better luck than others in the league, that doesn’t define our entire season, the way we perform with the ones we have available does. i do agree it’s impactful, but not the main reason at all. yes we had 6 lb injured, but we have 7: at no point we had no lb available. regarding nwaneri: a… Read more »
I tend to agree. This team has been quite unlucky with injuries this season, some shoddy decisions too, but I disagree with this narrative that the problems are all to do with injuries/referees. There have been some very poor performances. The team has actually fared well in tough games against big teams, it’s the games against other teams that has been the disappointment. So, it can not all be referees and injuries, has to be something more, something in the mentality or something. The problem is a lack of elite finisher. The problem is not having a proper backup to… Read more »
It’s a shame that we have to go through this all the time. There’s a simple way to everything, however, Arteta prefer the had way. Every team with desire to win trophies never gives the opponents opportunity to recover when losses attack up high. Arsenal keep doing the same thing over again, playing like the game is won already. I don’t think Arsenal is ready to win the league because the teams and the managers current mentality is the one of a contender. The best position for Arsenal this season is second. Unfortunately, injury is part of the game and… Read more »
This team is really not in the same frame as Liverpool. Keep possession but no threat to the opponents. Very static and not running enough.
Very slow build up play as well. Someone should tell the set piece coach you can’t be offside from a throw in.
Completely agree with James on on the whistle. Not that we should give up hope this season but if waiting until summer gives us a better chance to bring in our first choice targets we should do that. If there’s someone magically available that’s a good fit, great. If not let’s hold off and hopefully get out A1 signing later.
Why can’t we do both?
That was not a penalty
In Vietnam, Arsenal fans always joke about moving to the new stadium has completely changed the feng shui of our club and it keeps the bad luck around like forever. I am not believing it but sometimes, if you try to think how bad luck we have been since 2006, maybe it is true.
The bad luck didn’t keep us from winning 3 FA cups though🤣
Haha, I’m in Singapore and was thinking only yesterday that ManU may have shite feng shui. Maybe we should have a look at ours!
We do seem to have a lot of misfortune lately. Feng shui is interesting and I believe that Arsene incorporated some concepts of it in the design of the training ground. I think that a positive crowd would override any negativity in the stadium, thankfully the days of bad vibes there are over.
I’m guessing MA wasn’t watching the second half. Practically the whole midfield was gasping for breath. And TP.
So we lose our head physio to Man Spew and go from best in the league to worst for injuries. I know theres a lot of games. But this isnt a coincidence. We dont need a new striker. We need a new physio. Bring back Jordan Reece.
Clearly something the club needs to look at. It’s basically written off the league this season.
Evidently, the team is not as mobile and pushing forward as a team like Liverpool. Most of the time, when in possession all the side and back passing. Play safe, not enterprising and aggressive enough in getting goals.
I’m really tired of Arteta. He must go now, he’s reached the ceiling. I don’t we’ll win any major trophy under his management. The team has regressed so badly this season as compared to the last 2 seasons