Injuries are never a good thing for a football team to deal with and, for Arsenal, that is no different with the news that Gabriel Martinelli is set for an unwanted spell on the side-lines.

Martinelli suffered a hamstring injury during the Gunners' 2-0 defeat to Newcastle United in the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final in midweek. The Brazil forward was substituted midway through the first half and he's now expected to be side-lined for around a month in recovery.

Mikel Arteta has already been forced to deal with several injury concerns this campaign, with Martinelli the latest name added to the treatment room. Bukayo Saka remains unavailable with a hamstring injury - while Gabriel Jesus, Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu are also out-of-action still.

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Before Martinelli's injury, Arsenal had been linked with several players who could have been signed to strengthen their forward options due to the players that are unavailable. The Gunners opted not to make any signings during the January transfer window, meaning Arteta will have to look at his existing options in the Arsenal squad to solve his latest problem.

One player who will hope to make the most of that opportunity to have more minutes is Ethan Nwaneri. Arteta replaced the injured Martinelli with the 17-year-old in the defeat at St James' Park despite having Chelsea loanee Raheem Sterling on the substitutes bench.

Nwaneri has been one of the success stories of Arsenal's term, so far, progressing from an academy prospect to a regular member of the first-team squad - in the Premier League and Champions League. It was only last week that the teenager scored the first top-flight goal of his career in the 5-1 win over Manchester City.

Martinelli typically plays on the left wing for Arsenal - but Nwaneri's favoured position is usually on the right. The injury to Martinelli leaves Kai Havertz, Leandro Trossard, Nwaneri and Sterling as their only senior forward options.

Given the injury to Martinelli, Arteta could be inclined to go with Nwaneri-Havertz-Trossard as his first-choice front three for the next few games. Sterling is also likely to get minutes, too, but the substitution against Newcastle may hint that Arteta views Nwaneri as being ahead of the Chelsea loanee in terms of team selection.

Arsenal are currently away in Dubai for a training camp as they capitalise on a break from action. The Gunners will return to Premier League duties on February 15 after a 10-day break, where they will travel to face Leicester City and Nwaneri will hope to get what would be a fourth start of the season in the top-flight - rather than settle for a place on the bench.