Depleted Arsenal suffer another injury blow with Ethan Nwaneri sidelined

Arsenal have been dealt another injury blow after teen sensation Ethan Nwaneri was ruled out for the rest of the month on the eve of their Carabao Cup semi-final against Newcastle.

Nwaneri, 17, marked his second successive Premier League start in Arsenal’s 1-1 draw at Brighton by opening the scoring in the first period before he was withdrawn at half-time.

Nwaneri, a product of Arsenal’s Hale End academy, was handed his chance as a result of injuries to Bukayo Saka – with the England man expected to be out until March – and Raheem Sterling.

But Mikel Arteta now faces being without the teenager for the entirety of January with seven fixtures to follow this month, starting with the first leg of their semi-final against Newcastle at the Emirates.

“Unfortunately, he has picked up a muscular injury and he will be out for a few weeks,” said Arteta, with neither the Arsenal boss or club clarifying which part of the player’s body had been affected.

“He didn’t really know it had been happened to be fair. He said: ‘I am feeling something, but I don’t really know what it is’.

“He has earned the right to step up and play for us and now he has started some big games, and impacted those games in the way he has done in different positions, too.

“So I am gutted for him because the injury is going to stop that. But it is another step in the development phase that he is in.”

Kai Havertz could return from illness against Newcastle after the Germany international was unable to take part in the fixtures against Brentford and Brighton.

Martin Odegaard, battling with the same virus, was only fit enough to start on the bench at Brighton.

And Arteta revealed just eight of his first-team players were able to report for training on Monday.

Arteta