Mikel Arteta was delighted with what he saw from Ethan Nwaneri in Wednesday’s 5-1 win at home to Bolton Wanderers in the Carabao Cup.
The Hale End academy graduate netted a brace as we advanced to the fourth round of the competition.
By the time he completed his brace, the Emirates Stadium crowd fully approved what they were seeing, belting out renditions of “Ethan Nwaneri, he’s one of our own.”
“He’s improving daily,” Mikel added. “They really respect him. You can tell he’s playing without pressure, with confidence, with a way of making decisions that tells you that the boy is ready at this level. Today he had a really strong performance and I’m happy to see that.
“A lot of positives to take from it, first of all the performance and then the way we scored the goals. We gave minutes, deserved minutes to a lot of first team players that needed them. As well we had obviously very important debuts as well that make us really proud.”
One of those first starts were handed to Raheem Sterling, who repaid Arteta’s faith with a goal in the second half.
“He was great,” our manager said. “I think he’s started to show glimpses of what he can do, especially in attacking moments. Physically, he needs to get there to the level that we require, but I think it was a massive step today.”
Lastly, Mikel shared his thoughts on why Wednesday was a night of celebration for our academy, after Mehmet Ali said on Monday that these opportunities are so much sweeter when our youngsters work hard to deserve them.
“It’s much better when they earn it and they’re here for the right reasons and they’ve done it,” Mikel added. “They did it by proving they could compete at this level in pre-season and that’s why today we trust them to get the job done.
“[The younger players] need to see the door is open, the possibility is there. It’s achievable and hopefully that message gets across. Big credit to everyone involved in the academy. They contributed and gave us these players in the manner that they are, so I think a positive night for the team as well.”
