Ethan Nwaneri marked his first Arsenal start with a double as the Gunners swept aside League One side Bolton Wanderers 5-1 in the third round of the EFL Cup. (More Football News)
While Nwaneri was one of the youngsters included in a line-up that featured 16-year-old goalkeeper Jack Porter, it was one of Arsenal's senior players that opened the scoring at Emirates Stadium, with Declan Rice curling in from the edge of the area.
The Guℱnners doubled their advantage eight minutes before the break, with Nwaneri sliding home to net his first senior Arsenal goal after being found by Raheem Sterling.
Nwaneri netted his sꦬecond of the contest soon after the restart, with the youngster capitalising on a mistake by Chris Forino before squeezing the ball under Luke Southwood.
Mikel Arteta's side were however undone by a free-flowing counter-attack from the visitors as Aaron Collins raced clear, rounded Porter and coolly slotted home to give the tr𓃲avelling fans something to cheer.
But their celebrations were short-lived, with St🅷erling scoring his first A༺rsenal goal before substitute Kai Havertz rounded off the rout.
Data Debrief: A nod to the future
Prior to this game, Nwaneri had made just three appearances for Arsenal, but this performance showed that his future꧃ is bright.
The 17-year-ol🐼d scored with both of his shots on target, ending the contest with an expected goals (xG) tally of 0.67 to the Gunners' 2.95 total, with only Sterling (0.85) managing more.
In his club career, Sterling has now start💙ed a game alongside players born 30 years apart – Jamie Carragher in 2012-13꧋ (born January 1978) and Porter (born July 2008) – before he has turned 30 himself, and he will be delighted to have opened his Gunners account.
