With players coming back from injury, Ethan Nwaneri was not even on the Arsenal bench last night.

Some will use Nwaneri’s lack of minutes this season as a way to bash Mikel Arteta, but what it shows is the strength in depth of our squad right now.

Yesterday was the first game of the season when Arteta had every one of this attacking options available.

Bukayo Saka, Viktor Gyokeres, Leandro Trossard and Martin Odegaard started. Gabriel Jesus and Noni Madueke came off the bench with Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli and Eberechi Eze not seeing any game time.

That is 9 players ahead of Nwaneri in the pecking order, and no one with a brain could make a case for him getting int the squad ahead of any of them.

The question is what do we do with Nwaneri in the second half of the season? Do we keep him around “just in case”, or is it now time for him to go out on loan?

Nwaneri turns 19 in March. He has shown he is Preier League ready. A lot of mid-lower PL sides would go for him, and he would start for them. Rumours right now are that Bournemouth are leading the way as they look for a quick replacement for Antoine Semenyo.

The only issue I see is what happens in 6 months? Those same 9 names wil still be ahead of him, and I can only really see Gabriel Jesus leaving us in the summer, which doesn’t really open a spot for Nwaneri. Every player has his price…

In the first half yesterday, the ball was in play for just 24 minutes.

Aston Villa spent more than 17 minutes taking goal kicks, free kicks, throw ins, etc.

This is the way Unai Emery teams play, and why he suits smaller clubs such as Aston Villa. Looking to take time out of the game at every opportunity is not something you can get away with at a top club.

As for Emi Martinez, he is simply a cry baby. Wastes tom at every opportunity, then berates ball boys when they don’t get him the ball back quick enough. An average goal keeper who has lived off a couple of exceptional moments. Yesterday’s headless at the final whistle shows that whilst he enjoys giving it, he can not take it.

Keenos