Mikel Arteta reveals Ethan Nwaneri demand after role in latest Arsenal win | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta says that Ethan Nwaneri's "let me go, let me go" approach has been key to his rapid development at Arsenal.

The gifted 17-year-old was Arsenal's best player in Saturday's vital 2-0 win over Leicester City at King Power Stadium, grabbing the assist for Mikel Merino's deadlock-breaking goal.

The Spaniard, playing as a makeshift striker after coming on a second-half substitute, grabbed a second before full-time to allow Arsenal to put the squeeze on Premier League leaders Liverpool, who entertain Wolves at Anfield on Sunday.

Merino more than staked his game to provide Arteta with the cover he needs at centre forward, but it was the brilliance of Nwaneri, who has burst onto the scene this season, which was again a major talking point after the final whistle.

Arteta has spoken of the importance of carefully nurturing young players in order to aid their development but is all too aware of the talent Nwaneri possesses. Indeed, the Spaniard referenced that he's in the team on merit, and not just because of the club's injury crisis, and revealed the mindset of his player which is helping to drive his success.

"What he’s showing basically, that’s him," Arteta told reporters.

Arteta's Arsenal got the job done late on / Catherine Ivill - AMA/GettyImages

"Obviously, his age is something that puts a question mark on how we have to deal with him, but every time that he’s given us,  he’s always ‘let me go, let me go, let me go.’ When a player is giving you all those signs, you shouldn’t stop it, and you have to play with that freedom, that creativity, that confidence that he’s playing with at the minute and the players around him are believing in him. So, let him go because he’s a massive threat, massive talent and he deserves to play.

"I think there were a few in the first half as well, every time he was on the ball, he made things happen. You could see that he had another level of threat and the rest of the team, and he continued with that in the second half with two great actions. And after that, he puts the ball on the plate for Mikel to score the header."

Nwaneri is perhaps more naturally suited to playing in-field, taking up an advanced central midfield role, but his standout showings in the absence of the injured Bukayo Saka show how versatile an asset he may be between now and the end of the season.

Playing on the right may be Nwaneri's role for the next couple of months as Saka continues to recover from hamstring injury, though he may rotate with Leandro Trossard and the struggling Raheem Sterling in an increasingly threadbare Arsenal front three.