Mikel Arteta confirms how long Ethan Nwaneri will miss with muscle injury

The Arsenal injury bug is unrelenting and Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Ethan Nwaneri will be the next Gunner to spend a period on the sidelines.

Arsenal are currently without Bukayo Saka, Raheem Sterling, Ben White, and Takehiro Tomiyasu due to various injuries, and have had to endure large swathes of the campaign without captain Martin Odegaard and two summer arrivals.

The Gunners were hit hard by Odegaard's absence over the autumn, and Saka's hamstring tear sustained just before Christmas was/is a killer blow. Saka's not expected to be back until March at the very earliest after undergoing surgery.

Supporters will hope Arsenal dip their toes into the January transfer market and bolster their frontline. So far, though, Arteta has opted for internal solutions and he seemed to have found optimal mitigation by deploying 17-year-old Nwaneri wide right. However, after scoring his second Premier League goal at Brighton, the exciting young star was forced off at half-time.

Ethan Nwaneri set for a "few weeks" on the sidelines with muscle injury

While Nwaneri showed no signs of injury during the first-half, he was replaced by Gabriel Martinelli at the break and Arteta confirmed post-match that the teenager had picked up a muscle issue.

Speaking ahead of Tuesday night's Carabao Cup semi-final first leg with Newcastle, the boss confirmed how long he expects Nwaneri to be out for (via Fabrizio Romano): “Unfortunately he has picked up an injury and is going to be out for a few weeks. Muscular injury.”

A "few weeks" represents some ambiguity, but it's likely that we won't see Nwaneri during the remainder of the club's January gauntlet. Arsenal have seven more matches this month.

The 17-year-old had offered such promise during his previous two starts, but the nature of Arsenal's season rendered a setback like this inevitable. We just can't catch a break.

The scale of the Gunners' current availability issues were laid bare by the boss, who said on Monday: "Today we had seven, eight players with us [in training] and just [had] to fill the squad, which is unknown. But it is a way to learn as well, this is how I take it."

Illness swept through the camp last week, preventing Kai Havertz from playing and limiting Martin Odegaard against Brighton. However, there's hope the squad will be healthier in time for Tuesday's cup tie on home soil, with Arteta also hopeful that Raheem Sterling will return from a knee injury "very soon".

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