Ethan Nwaneri sends yet another clear Arsenal message to Mikel Arteta

Ethan Nwaneri has again sent a clear message to Mikel Arteta in pursuit of more minutes for Arsenal. The 17-year-old has featured for 230 minutes this season and has consistently impressed despite such a short amount of time on the pitch.

The bulk of his game time has arrived in the Carabao Cup with the teenager netting a brace in the 5-0 third round win over Bolton and a stunning goal away at Preston at the next stage. Unsurprisingly, Arteta has been very impressed by his displays.

"It is rare to see a talent like this at 17, that's true," he said. "When he made his debut in the Premier League there was a lot of talk about it. We didn't do it as a gift, we did it because we knew the pathway we wanted to build with him and we wanted to send him a really strong sign about how much we trust him and how much we wanted him to stay with us."

In the absence of Martin Odegaard, calls for Nwaneri to start became louder but the Gunners boss has refrained from putting him in the spotlight too often. "The biggest thing is to push him and then when he is pushing you grab him from behind to make sure he is stable and protected," he explained when asked about those demands from supporters.

"This talent you have to push him. Protection is necessary, keeping an eye on him, but he needs to see that he can go and fly and not cut his wings. I can talk about how good he is right now and the position he is at, at one of the biggest clubs in Europe, sums up really well the level he has.

"What happens in the future is going to depend on him and how much he wants it. At the moment he wants it a lot and he is surrounded by the right people. The crystal ball to see what he is going to be in two or three years, no. My prediction is going to be very positive."

With the bulk of his minutes coming off the bench, it has been difficult at times for Nwaneri to make a lasting impact. However, when named in the starting XI as he also did last month for England Under-19s, he very often delivers with that happening again over the November international break.

For their European championship qualifier against Lithuania, it took Nwaneri just seven minutes to score the opening goal after making a late dash into the box to head home a perfectly-weighted cross from Chelsea's Tyrique George.

Though he is consistently impressing, upon his return to London Colney, Nwaneri may find himself further down the pecking order. For the 1-1 draw against Chelsea, Odegaard was back in the starting XI and he has also remained in north London to improve his fitness levels over the two-week pause.

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