Mikel Arteta admits 23-year-old Arsenal player picked up an injury last night

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Mikel Arteta has admitted that Emile Smith Rowe picked up a ‘knock’ last night as Arsenal beat Brentford in the League Cup.

Arteta made plenty of changes to the side that drew to Tottenham on Sunday, with the likes of Reiss Nelson, Aaron Ramsdale and Jakub Kiwior all coming in the starting line-up.

Nelson’s first-half strike proved to be the difference between the sides and booked Arsenal’s place in the next round of the Carabao Cup.

The Spaniard also handed youngster Charles Sagoe Jr his debut while Emile Smith Rowe started for the first time this season.

Smith Rowe has struggled for minutes over the past year after falling down the pecking order under Arteta.

The 23-year-old started in midfield last night and put in an encouraging display considering he’d only made two substitute appearances beforehand this season.

But Arteta has admitted that Smith Rowe has picked up a knock so the Arsenal boss was forced to manage his minutes last night.

Arteta on Smith Rowe

Speaking to the media after last night’s game, Arteta singled out Smith Rowe for praise.

“I think he had really good moments in the first half, and the game was much easier for him, the way he was developing with his qualities, and the game we started to play after five or ten minutes in the second half, and then after he was struggling more,” he said.

“Physically, he’s still not there to play 90 minutes, we have to bear in mind that we have four or five players in that field and that was big concern for us today in the line-up, because we have seven at Colney that are not fit now.”

He added: ”He did [pick up a knock] but it wasn’t because of that, we had to manage his minutes.

“His load has seen a big spike in the last two weeks as well, and he was struggling to finish the game, the same with Reiss.” as quoted by Arsenal’s official website.

Smith Rowe will be hoping to get more minutes over the coming weeks should his injury prove to be nothing serious.

The Englishman suffered a significant setback last season at Old Trafford which led to him being sidelined for a few months.

It’s fair to say that it’s been a difficult year for Smith Rowe on and off the pitch. But it would be brilliant to see him force his way back into Arteta’s side.