Martin Keown accuses Mikel Arteta of making Ethan Nwaneri mistake

Martin Keown fears Arsenal are asking too much of Ethan Nwaneri amid a mounting injury crisis.

The 17-year-old has enjoye a stellar สมัคร UFABET วันนี้ รับเครดิตฟรีสำหรับสมาชิกใหม่ breakthrough season with his boyhood club and his superb form could yet be rewarde with a place in Thomas Tuchel’s England squad.

Injuries to the likes of Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli has force Mikel Arteta to use Nwaneri more often than he might have preferre in recent weeks.

Nominally a central midfielder, Nwaneri has excelle in place of Saka on the right wing but Keown fears the teenager is being overworke in the absence of his senior colleague.

‘But we’re asking too much of Nwaneri to fill in for as long as he is with Saka out available, and I don’t think you can plan for that.’

The Gunners are back in action tonight against Nottingham Forest following Saturday’s devastating home defeat against West Ham.

With the gap to leaders Liverpool now 11 points, hopes of a first title win in over 20 years appear all but over.

Goalscoring has become a major issue for Arteta’s side in the absences of so many attacking players but Keown believes the likes of Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard must do more and step up.

He adde: ‘When you’ve got four strikers [forwards] that are out and not available to the manager – Havertz, Jesus, Martinelli and Saka…

‘I think in any team, in any situation, what’s the equivalent of that at Liverpool? [Mohamed] Salah not being available, [Diogo] Jota, [Luis] Diaz, [Cody] Gakpo, that would be a hole in Liverpool’s team. So I don’t think anyone can plan for that.

‘Last season when Arsenal went on their run – 16 wins [from last 18 matches] – they score 53 goals.

‘They were so collective in the way that they score goals and I think that was the plan for this year to not bring in a striker and of course that’s backfire.

‘Because you’ve seen that they need a striker – even before the injuries took hold.

‘There’s suspensions, [Martin] Odegaard was out for two months and then Saka of course, so it kind of feels like one thing after another.

‘And at the weekend [vs West Ham], they just didn’t create enough, it didn’t matter who was up front, it didn’t matter who was going to be the centre-forward.

‘If Thierry Henry was the centre-forward at the weekend, without creating opportunities for him [he wouldn’t score], the precision in their game disappeare.’