Rio Ferdinand believes Mikel Arteta made a crucial error earlier this season that could prove costly in Arsenal’s pursuit of the Premier League title. The Gunners are currently on a 15-match unbeaten run in the top flight, but remain seven points behind league leaders Liverpool.

Arteta’s men got another three points on the board on Saturday as two late goals from Mikel Merino sealed a 2-0 victory at Leicester.

The makeshift striker popped up with two important goals, but it was another forward, 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri, who really caught the eye as he caused Leicester problems all afternoon before setting up the opening goal.

Arteta was cautious with integrating Nwaneri into the first team in the opening months of the campaign, but after watching the youngster on Saturday, Ferdinand is convinced that was a mistake, and has argued he should have been brought into the side when club captain Martin Odegaard was ruled out for two months with an ankle injury.

‘Arsenal could be nearer to winning the league and closer to Liverpool if your manager played Nwaneri when Odegaard was injured,’ Ferdinand claimed on his YouTube channel.

‘What he is doing… he is cooking defenders, he is cooking teams. I think if he came in you would have got more points.

‘It’s easy to say in hindsight but I was saying it at the time. Chuck him in and just see, what’s the worst that can happen?

‘Because you were running up dead alleys at the time and not getting results. Put him in! Odegaard was gone.’

Ferdinand is not the only high-profile pundit who has been impressed with Nwaneri after his standout performance against Leicester. Joe Cole compared the winger to Lionel Messi following his display, while Alan Shearer hailed Nwaneri as a ‘potential superstar’.

Nwaneri has had to wait patiently for an extended run in Arteta’s side, but now has seven goals in 24 appearances across all competitions this term. He is likely to remain in the starting XI for the foreseeable future, with Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli still weeks away from returning to action.

But Ferdinand is adamant that not playing Nwaneri sooner could come back to haunt Arsenal, with time running out for the north London outfit to chase down Liverpool for their first title triumph in 21 years.