Ethan Nwaneri scored two goals on his first start for Arsenal this season. The 17-year old delivered a matured performance against Bolton Wanderers on Wednesday night.
Arsenal won 5-1 on Wednesday night, with a brace from Ethan Nwaneri the highlight of the game. Goals from Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Raheem Sterling.
The win reflects Mikel Arteta’s mentality for this season; the Spaniard said the Gunners have a duty to win trophies this year:
“Well, in terms of trophies and success, it’s only if you win it. How you measure success, or how you associate that word, probably we could have a much more deeper conversation. But we are here to win. We are here to win the big competitions and the ones that are not considered that big. That’s our duty.”
Mikel Arteta very pleased with Ethan Nwaneri
Arsenal started the game with four recent academy players; Ethan Nwaneri, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Josh Nichols.
The Gunners boss says he was really impressed with Nwaneri after he scored on a brace in his first start of the season:
“He’s improving daily,”
“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.”
The win against Bolton caps off an eventual week as Arsenal went unbeaten after facing Atalanta in the Champions League and Manchester City in the Premier League.
The door is open for youngsters this season – Mikel Arteta
After seeing how well some of the young players did on Wednesday night, Mikel Arteta believes a lot of them have taken their chance and could feature more as the season progresses:
“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.”
