Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta says he is “really happy” to have Emile Smith-Rowe and hopes to give him more minutes in the second half of the season.
The attacking midfielder has been linked with a loan switch to West Ham recently having struggled for game time since returning from a knee injury.
But Arteta says the 23-year-old is feeling “settled” at Arsenal though admits he needs to be given more opportunity to impress.
“I’m really happy with Emile,” Arteta said.
“He’s on the right trajectory. Now, he’s settled, he’s training really well and you know i’m not going
to talk about individual situations.
“We know he’s got incredible qualities and we’re really happy to have him.
“What he needs now is chances to put all the desire and quality that he has on the pitch. In order to do that, we have to give him minutes.”
The Gunners return to action against on Saturday against Crystal Palace following their winter break which saw the squad travel to Dubai.
Arteta’s side have won just one of the last seven games in all competitions and have struggled for goals of late but the Arsenal manager backed his players to turn their form around.
“Defeat cannot make you lose who you are,” he said.
“If you do that, then you are never who you said that you were. We have to continue to be ourselves, but there are certain details, certain marginal gains that we have to improve and develop.
“This is the beautiful thing about my job as well is that you constantly find the evolution of a team and what it needs to keep winning.
“For sure we are not going to score enough goals. I love the players that I have and the way they work, the way they go about it and that will come, for sure.”
