Mikel Arteta pleased with Arsenal youngster Eddie Nketiah's performance.

Eddie Nketiah of Arsenal celebrates with teammate Dani Ceballos [Getty]

Mikel Arteta says forward Eddie Nketiah deserves chances as the 21-year-old has been working hard in training.

Mikel Arteta was overly delighted that substitute Eddie Nketiah scored the winning goal against West Ham on Saturday.

Striker Alexandre Lacazette broke the deadlock in the 25th minute but Michail Antonio responded for the away side at the stroke of half-time.

It looked like both sides were going to share the spoils but Gunners young forward Nketiah came on and converted midfielder Dani Ceballos' pass to secure three points.

"That's exactly what we are looking for," Arteta told Arsenal.com. "He came on really well again, he's a boy that is challenging everyone in training and he deserves chances.

"And I love the reaction from his team-mates, from Laca as well, the way he went to celebrate the goal with him, and that's what they are here for.

"We faced a really difficult opponent. We knew that before the game, the way they play. I think we made it really difficult for ourselves in the first 15 minutes with the number of simple balls that we gave away. There is no structure in the world that can sustain that.

"Then after the goal we had much better periods when we were able to sustain and control them better. They cannot run, a transition moment with one minute to go in the first half.

"In the second half again we had 15, 20 minutes when we struggled, we gave simple balls away, we didn't have the right organisation.

"We made some changes and after we improved in the last 20, we managed to score another beautiful goal, and then just man-managed the game for the last five or six minutes."

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