Mikel Arteta has admitted that Emile Smith Rowe is still some way off being able to complete a whole game for Arsenal.
Smith Rowe started his first Arsenal match in 499 days as the Gunners beat Brentford 1-0 in the third round of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night. He impressed in midfield, outshining £65million summer signing Kai Havertz, to make an impact upon his long-awaited return to the starting line-up.
Having previously managed just 25 minutes across the first eight matches of the campaign, the 23-year-old played 82 minutes at Brentford before being replaced by Martin Odegaard. He should have marked the occasion with a goal, but could not beat Mark Flekken after dancing his way through the Bees’ defence.
Arteta was delighted with Smith Rowe’s performance, but sounded a note of caution about the midfielder’s fitness levels. “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,” Arteta 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.”
Asked why he was substituted Arteta 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 [Nelson].”
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