Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah has told Mikel Arteta that he is ready to help keep the Gunners' Premier League title hopes alive in the absence of Gabriel Jesus.
Jesus has quickly established himself as the main man at Emirates Stadium following his £45million switch from Manchester City in the summer. But the 25-year-old is facing up to three months on the sidelines after undergoing surgery last week in a bid to repair a knee injury he sustained at the World Cup with Brazil.
Gunners academy graduate Nketiah has found regular first-team action hard to come by following Jesus' arrival, but he is expected to be handed a more prominent role in the wake of the latter's injury.
And Nketiah has stressed that he is ready to seize the opportunity with both hands, admitting that he has been biding his time and preparing in recent months.
"I have been working hard, I’ve been working hard all season and I’m sure when I get the opportunity I’ll be able to come in and help the team," said Nketiah, who is in the Middle East with the Gunners squad for the Dubai Super Cup.
"I spoke to him [Jesus] and wished him a speedy recovery. It is never nice to see anyone miss a World Cup and also for us as a team he is a big player, we are going to miss him. We are all behind him."
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Arteta admitted last week that it was "too soon" to put a timescale on recovery for Jesus, who picked up the issue in Brazil's final group-stage match against Cameroon - but the Spaniard did not rule out dipping into the transfer market to sign another attacking player to boost the Gunners' title hopes.
Arsenal headed into the midseason break five points clear at the summit of the Premier League and there were already reports claiming that Arteta was keen to snap up another wide attacker to supplement his squad prior to Jesus' injury.
"What it affects is who we are as a team because he gives us so much," Arteta said while discussing Jesus' absence ahead of Arsenal's trip to Dubai. "What we can do after that when we know the timescale better and we have when we can have him back we will look at the options and try to make the right decisions.
"We look at the squad and see what the options we have our with the players we have available. There are things we can try, we have the need to do so."
