Mikel Arteta sent Ethan Nwaneri message after Arsenal Champions League snub

Ian Wright insisted that boss should have brought on Ethan Nwaneri earlier against , claiming the teenager's abilities were missed in the shock loss.

when they were bested 2-0 by the Cherries, courtesy of goals from Ryan Christie and Justin Kluivert.

The north London club were down to 10 men in the first half after for bringing down Evanilson, who looked to be through on goal.

was the unfortunate player to be sacrificed, with Arteta taking off the winger for defender Jakub Kiwior. As a result, Arsenal fielded four centre-backs and three holding midfielders with an obvious lack of creativity in midfield.

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Speaking on the podcast, Wright questioned why Nwaneri, 17, wasn't substituted on earlier, having been introduced in the 81st minute of the game when they were already 2-0 down.

"When I saw [Mikel] Merino, [Thomas] Partey and [Declan] Rice – I was thinking [Ethan] Nwaneri, the youngster," the legend said. "Against you need someone who can do something [in the middle] and create something, because that’s what was majorly missing.

"We needed someone to beat someone with the ball – I would have taken a chance on him – I would have had Merino, Rice and Nwaneri playing in there [the number 10], to have something different."

Managing only nine minutes of action at the Vitality Stadium, Nwaneri was overlooked for Arsenal's clash against Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday, which they narrowly won 1-0.

The teenager has made four appearances this season, scoring twice in Arsenal's 5-1 win over Bolton in the third round of the EFL Cup. The Enfield-born midfielder became the youngest player to ever appear in the at 15 years and 181 days when coming on against Brentford in September 2022.

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