Arteta vows to support Arsenal's teenage talent after dominant win over Bolton

Mikel Arteta commended his youthful team after witnessing Arsenal secure their spot in the next round of the Carabao Cup with an impressive 5-1 victory over Bolton.

A number of injuries, allied to a packed fixture list, saw the Gunners boss make significant changes to the team which battled to preserve a point against Manchester City at the weekend.

Indeed, there were full debuts for Myles Lewis-Skelly, Josh Nichols, Ethan Nwaneri and 16-year-old goalkeeper Jack Porter who became the youngest player to ever start a game for Arsenal.

Fellow teenagers Maldini Kacurri and Ismeal Kabia also made their first appearances as second half substitutes, but it was Nwaneri who grabbed the headlines with two goals which capped a sensational display.

The 17-year-old appeared ready to make the step-up to the first team squad having impressed during pre-season and he underlined his rapid progress with an eye-catching performance against the League One strugglers.

With Mikel Merino and Martin Odegaard still injured, more opportunities are likely to be more forthcoming and Arteta confidently declared after the game that ‘the boy is ready’.

He said: ‘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.’

In his post match press conference, meanwhile, Arteta was asked how close Nwaneri was to starting a Premier League game and said: ‘Let’s go, it’s another step, I think it’s ahead of what anyone could have expected, in his journey with the first-team he’s always ahead of what anyone expected and what I expected as well. He’s part of us so he will have the minutes.

‘On the second goal, I was really happy for him because he scored. I’m very happy because you know, I know the reaction of his teammates if he wouldn’t.

‘So I think overall, again, I think he was really good. I think it was a really strong performance for him. I think he really feels part of us.

‘You can tell that he’s playing with that confidence, that belief and the understanding of what he needs to do on the pitch so very impressed.’