Emile Smith Rowe responds to Ethan Nwaneri as Arsenal sent clear message

Arsenal youngster Ethan Nwaneri sent a clear message to manager Mikel Arteta with his performance on the international stage for England U21s this week.

The 18-year-old got regular minutes for the Gunners last season, making a total of 37 appearances in all competitions. However, the arrival of Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke may see his game time reduce this campaign.

So far this season, he has got minutes in just one of the three Premier League games, replacing the injured Martin Odegaard in the first half of the 5-0 win over Leeds United last month. He was an unused substitute for the other two games against Manchester United and Liverpool.

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The current international break saw him called up to Lee Carsley’s England U21s side. He started on the right in Monday night’s European qualifier against Kazakhstan, and took just 18 minutes to get on the scoresheet.

Nwaneri played 76 minutes of the game and was named as man of the match as the Young Lions came out as 2-0 winners.

Taking to Instagram after the game he posted a picture of him in celebrating his goal, along with a caption reading: “Great win team.”

Fellow academy graduate Max Dowman responded with a red heart emoji. The post was also ‘liked’ by Arsenal teammates Leandro Trossard and Myles Lewis-Skelly as well as former Arsenal man Emile Smith Rowe.

Lewis-Skelly also ‘liked’ a post from England’s official account showing Nwaneri with his man of the match award. Declan Rice and Arsenal legend Ian Wright were also among those to ‘like’ the post.

With just one game during this international break for the team, Nwaneri will hope that Arteta was taking note of his performance ahead of the return of the Premier League this weekend. The Gunners are back in action on Saturday afternoon when they take on Nottingham Forest at the Emirates Stadium (12.30pm kick-off). The match will see them come up against former Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou who will take charge of his first match as Forest boss following his appointment on Tuesday.