Ethan Nwaneri adds to Arsenal’s injury woes | OneFootball

Arsenal kicked off 2025 with a strong 3-1 win at Brentford but faced Brighton without several key players before losing Ethan Nwaneri and dropping more points.

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Arsenal began 2025 in confident style at Brentford, overcoming an early Bryan Mbeumo strike to close the gap on league leaders Liverpool to six points. Gabriel Jesus equalised before second-half goals from Mikel Merino and Gabriel Martinelli sealed the win.

The game, however, came at a cost with Jurrien Timber picking up his fifth booking of the season in the 17th minute.

That meant the 23-year-old was suspended for Arsenal’s tricky trip to Brighton on Saturday in the early evening kick-off, a game that saw a below-par Gunners draw thanks, in part, to yet another ‘never seen one of those before’ decisions from the referee.

Arsenal were also without Bukayo Saka (hamstring), Raheem Sterling (knee), Ben White (knee), Kai Havertz (illness) and Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee).

Sadly, the final 1-1 scoreline was not the only bad news the day delivered.

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After the game, Arteta confirmed that Ethan Nwaneri was substituted at half-time due to a muscular problem. Most assumed that the 17-year-old winger, who scored his fifth goal of the season in the match, had initially been replaced due to concerns over his booking, but Arteta clarified the injury.

He told the BBC, “It’s really bad news because I think we’ve lost him, we had to take him off at half-time with some muscular issues, but let’s see.

“We lost a lot of players in the last week or so, that is the disappointing part.”

Havertz was expected to return from the illness that ruled him out of the Brentford game. When asked if he could return to the squad, Mikel Arteta said, “Yes, I think so”. He did not make it.

Asked if anyone else was ill from the bug, Arteta had added, “No. The ones with the injuries I think are going to be okay. They will train today and if everybody is fine they should be available.”

However, Martin Odegaard started the game on the bench after struggling with illness himself while Gabriel Martinelli was alongside him after suffering with a ‘slight issue’. Both were fit enough to come on as Arsenal searched for a second-half winner.

“Kai tried but he was very honest and said ‘I cannot even travel, I’m not feeling good at all'” Arteta said after the game. “We tried yesterday to see if he could train, he tried his best and wasn’t able to do that.

“Martin, he didn’t train [yesterday], he said ‘let me not train and see how I feel tomorrow’ and he did his best to be here because we know the numbers we have.”

Speaking to the media ahead of the game, Mikel Arteta clarified that White is still ‘a few weeks’ away from returning while Tomiyasu has started training but they are taking a cautious approach.

“Ben is still a few weeks away,” Arteta said, “and Tomi again has done some stuff on the pitch but now because it’s been a long-term injury we need to see how quickly he can progress and how he reacts.”

Asked if White could return before the end of January, Arteta said, “It might be a possibility but he hasn’t done anything with the team. The knee looks good, he’s reacted really well, and in the first few weeks everything is going smoothly. Now we need to start the load and that means he needs to get through many more things that up to now he hasn’t been able to do, but hopefully it’s good. His work ethic is unbelievable and naturally, he’s a really gifted player so I am very positive that we’re going to have him quite early, but I don’t know when.”

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Sterling, meanwhile, is back in training. “I think he’s starting to do some stuff on the pitch so that’s great news,” Arteta said. “As quickly as possible we want him available. Let’s see how he progresses this week and then see if we can go for the following week.”

Arsenal team v Brighton