has stuck with his plan to use midfielder Mikel Merino as an emergency striker for Arsenal's trip to , amid mounting criticism of the move.

Instead, Arteta has decided to make only one change to his side from the defeat to on Saturday. The other change sees Jorginho come into central midfield to replace Thomas Partey.

The Italian is making his first start in the since the Gunners faced away, back on January 4. Meanwhile Myles Lewis-Skelly is serving a one-match suspension following his red card against the Hammers.

That means will start in goal, behind a back four of right-back Jurrien Timber, centre-backs William Saliba and Gabriel, and left-back Riccardo Calafiori. Jorginho is joined in midfield by and captain Martin Odegaard.

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Up-front, Arteta has opted to stick with Merino in the central role. Academy graduate Ethan Nwaneri and will line up either side of the Spaniard.

Merino was a summer arrival from Real Socidedad and had been earmarked to boost Arteta's options in central midfield. But with Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz both suffering season-ending injuries, the boss has been forced to get creative up-front.

That has seen Merino deployed as an emergency centre-forward. He was brought on in that role with 20 minutes to go in the recent trip to struggling , with the 28-year-old scoring two goals against the Foxes to claim a win.

Arteta opted to start him up-front from the off against West Ham, but he struggled to make an impact as the Gunners slipped to a damaging defeat. In the aftermath of that game, Arteta was questioned over the move to deploy Merino up top.

"Arsenal were fortunate last week, let's be honest," Gunners legend Paul Merson said. "At 0-0 they made Leicester look decent. Merino comes on and scores two very good goals.

"It's a hard position to play, centre forward, there aren't a lot of them around. To just throw people up there and expect them to do the magic, for me, is mind-blowing. He looked like a fish up a tree. I don't mean to be disrespectful to him, he's a holding midfield player. You just can't do that. I worry for Arsenal now."

Arteta though has insisted he still believes Merino can be a success up-front. But he called upon the rest of his players to step up and help the Spaniard.

"Yes," he said when asked if Merino can play as a striker. "In relation to the opposition and the options we have, and then what the team generates as well. Attacking players depend a lot on what the team is generating, the chemistry, the fluidity, the areas we are hitting, and how we interact with each other. It worked really against Leicester, but the other day there were a lot of things missing.

"We have fixed it [goals from midfielders] because our goal difference with the best team in the league is both +23 in 15 games, so that’s quite unique to do. But we want more goals from all of them and we know that there are areas we can increase and this is one."

Arsenal XI vs Nottingham Forest: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori, Jorginho, Rice, Odegaard, Nwaneri, Trossard, Merino.

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