Mikel Arteta offers encouraging injury update amid Arsenal's attacking crisis | OneFootball

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta downplayed concerns over a potential injury for Ethan Nwaneri, revealing that the teenage forward was taken off against West Ham United on Saturday with "fatigue".

Nwaneri lasted 81 minutes of a grim 1-0 defeat in front of a deflated Emirates Stadium. The Gunners limped into Saturday's fixture without four first-choice forwards and struggled to carve open any significant opportunities against a stubborn West Ham rearguard.

The sight of Nwaneri limping along the fringe of the Emirates pitch prompted fears that he would join Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus on the sidelines, but Arteta was keen to quash those concerns. "No, hopefully not," the Spanish boss replied when asked if the prodigious 17-year-old was injured. "He was just fatigued I think."

Midfielder Mikel Merino started the game against West Ham as a makeshift striker after a two-goal cameo in Arsenal's trip to Leicester City last weekend. However, the toothless opening 80 minutes of that encounter at King Power proved to be more instructive than the late goal-glut.

After watching his side register just two shots on target against a team with the fifth-worst defensive record in the Premier League, Arteta sighed: "We have to look in the mirror at ourselves and what we can do better, the will and desire and the way we run and the way we want it, zero questions about that.

Ethan Nwaneri was forced off for Arsenal on Saturday / Julian Finney/GettyImages

"But at this level it's not enough, you have to deliver and it has to be a lot of quality to break a really good team down to win many more duels than we have done and put actions that can end up in really threatening moments for the positions to win the game, and we haven't done it."

Martin Odegaard came under plenty of individual criticism after enduring a seventh consecutive appearance without registering an assist. Arsenal's skipper acknowledged his own creative struggles: "I think we lacked a bit of efficiency in the final third, the final pass, the final cross and we should have been sharper and better around the box. I think that's what we missed today and also, we let them run a bit too easily a few times, so it's a big blow and disappointing.

"We move on and we have to strike back in the next one straight away."

Arsenal face a daunting trip to third-placed Nottingham Forest on Wednesday evening, although their bid to bounce straight back will be boosted by the likely inclusion of Nwaneri.