Mikel Arteta names 'immense' Arsenal player after Brentford win as injury blow confirmed

Arsenal got back to winning ways on Wednesday night with a relatively comfortable 2-0 home win over London rivals Brentford. Mikel Merino provided another big goal, scoring another header, and Bukayo Saka forced one home late on to wrap up all three points.

The win means the Gunners remain five points ahead of Manchester City, who beat Fulham on Tuesday night. It did prove to be a bruising evening for Arsenal, though, with two more injuries picked up against the battling Bees.

Cristhian Mosquere picked up a fresh concern, and Declan Rice was also dealt a setback. Rice was forced off, leaving Arsenal in the dark ahead of Saturday’s tricky-looking away clash with Aston Villa.

“Yes, obviously it's never good news, Declan [Rice] had to come off, we don't know, we'll have to see tomorrow what he’s got,” Arteta said. “[Cristhian] Mosquera is the other one that is out, obviously we have big Gabi and Willy [Saliba] out as well. So we have to adapt, it's been a theme this season, but when I look at the players that haven't been playing much, for example Ben White, the performance that he had.

“Martin [Odegaard] has been out, and he puts 96 minutes under his belt straight away. Noni (Madueke), the same, Viktor [Gyokeres] is coming and now he's getting some minutes as well. So I'm very pleased to see that.”

Arteta added on Rice: “Talking about fans and support, I asked them to be here at 7.30, I think they were earlier. So thank you so much to all of them for being with us because we needed that energy today. He could not carry on playing, so we have to wait and see tomorrow what happens.”

‘Immense’ Merino

On the plus side, Merino is now on three goals and three assist in the Premier League, scoring in each of his last two appearances, while he has provided a goal contribution in each of his last four games, scoring twice and assisting three times in that stretch.

“He was immense again,” Arteta said his countryman. “The way he scored, super smart. His timing, the way he wins the position and execution. But his overall performance, with the ball, without the ball, I remember an action that he passed the ball to Martin in behind. Martin doesn't chase it, he makes 40 metres to chase it to the corner flag and goes back, wins the ball back. He is everywhere and his goal, with that really good momentum at the moment - he makes the team much better.”

Arteta added: “I said it earlier in the press conference. It's curiosity and his will to learn and his will to help the team. He knew that we had a major problem from the beginning of the season. We lost Viktor, Kai was out and Gabriel Jesus was out. So we needed a solution. He did it last year really, really well. I think this season he's probably taking it to another step because he's able to do even more things. So I think the team is really grateful and he's enjoying it.”

Your next Arsenal read, Cristhian Mosquera Injury: What Mikel Arteta said about Arsenal player