Mikel Arteta told to leave out two Arsenal stars vs PSV as mentality claim made

Arsenal hold a 7-1 lead after the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 meeting with PSV Eindhoven and manager Mikel Arteta may be tempted to ring the changes

Former Arsenal star Martin Keown has urged manager Mikel Arteta to give youngsters Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly a rest in the second leg of the Gunners' Champions League clash against PSV Eindhoven.

The two academy stars have played more than some might have anticipated this season, albeit for varying reasons. Nwaneri has been forced to deputise amid injuries to the likes of Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Jesus, while Lewis-Skelly has made himself hard to drop since earning an opportunity at left-back.

Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly combined for a goal in the first leg in Eindhoven, with Arsenal eventually running out 7-1 winners. The latter was withdrawn early by Arteta, though, having perhaps been fortunate to escape a second yellow card for a foul on Richy Ledezma.

With a healthy advantage going into the second leg on Wednesday, Arteta has a chance to give some players a rest. While he might not make 11 changes from the side which drew with Manchester United on Sunday, Invincibles defender Keown thinks a night off for the youngsters might not be the worst thing.

"Nwaneri, he's only 17 years of age and he's had to play so many games," TNT Sports pundit Keown told Mirror Football. "You want him to play and you're sort of fast-track learning these players.

"They've got Lewis-Skelly the same, two great talents. I think Nwaneri, you're getting a little bit of that inconsistency because he's only 17, he's not fully developed, whereas Lewis-Skelly is like a beast of a player, really strong, contact player, and he's learning the game and getting the right balance.

"He's been involved in a couple of situations that I'm sure he's going to learn from. So they probably could both do with a bit of a rest, it would have to be calamitous if we were to go out so it is an opportunity to rest key players."

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While some saw the first-leg incident as a let-off for Lewis-Skelly, Keown sees it more as a learning experience. The youngster has already served a ban for a red card against West Ham, while a dismissal against Wolves was overturned on appeal, but the pundit credits referee Jesus Gil Manzano for his approach in Europe.

"It's interesting that the referee took that approach, kind of worked with the player a little bit and then the manager invariably took him off," Keown added. "We've seen that with other teams, and he [Lewis-Skelly] just needs to learn from it, doesn't he.

"He was rested on Sunday so [Arteta] might well want to start him and then take him off. [Riccardo] Calafiori's been very unlucky in that area because he comes in and I really like his attitude, actually, the way he comes in.

"He's always a very impressive player in his own right, isn't he. He had a very bad injury, that was a risk as well - he's had a couple of injuries since he's been there."

While Arsenal's title bid has deteriorated, with Sunday's draw at Old Trafford leaving them 15 points adrift of league leaders Liverpool, they remain very much alive in Europe. Questions have been asked about whether Arteta's side have the winning mentality required to add to their one trophy under the Spaniard, but three-time Premier League winner Keown remains confident the current crop can take that next step forward.

"When we were champions, when we won the double in 97-98, we started to evolve but then we had a gap of three seasons when we were second," he said. "But we reached the Uefa Cup final and lost on penalties, lost to Liverpool (in the FA Cup final), and in all this time you're coming second in the Premier League.

"In '99 we lost the league by a point and only conceded 17 goals, so at no point did we lose belief. You can have moments where you feel annoyed and feel sorry for yourself for a little while, but it can't last long because you've got to get back on the road to winning, and it's very satisfying when you eventually climb the mountain as we did in 2002 - and at Old Trafford.

"I think that's what this team... you might say they've not won anything and we did, we bounced back. but I think there's enough - the manager won enough things previously as an assistant manager, so you hope there's enough winners in there to get on the right path to bring success to the club."

Watch Arsenal and Aston Villa in the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League, live on TNT Sports and discovery+

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