Premier League history was made as Arsenal youngster Ethan Nwaneri came off the bench to become the youngest ever player to make an appearance in England’s top-fight during the Gunner’s 3-0 win over Brentford on Sunday afternoon.
Nwaneri, who is an English midfielder eligible to play for Nigeria, made his debut at 15 years and 181 days old, almost 6 months younger than the previous record-holder, Liverpool midfielder Harvey Elliott. Funnily enough, even the Emirates Stadium is older than Nwaneri.
Despite the hard work and talent shown by Nwaneri, his inclusion in the Arsenal squad to face Brentford came as a result of a late injury to captain Martin Ødegaard.
However, the skipper’s knock was made to not affect Arsenal too badly after the performance of Fabio Vieira, who bagged a stunning goal on his full Premier League debut.
All eyes were on the North Londoners today to see how they responded to the Manchester United setback, particularly against a well-organized Brentford side, who beat the Red Devils 4-0 themselves at the Community Stadium.
Many thought that the result at Old Trafford a fortnight ago would’ve completely derailed the Gunners’ near perfect start. However, today’s result shows that Arsenal are the real deal, playing with a certain swagger that felt as if the United game hadn’t happened.
Arsenal fans were nervous going into the game, with last year’s result still fresh in mind. Furthermore, injury problems to Ødegaard and Zinchenko casted more doubt given how influential the pair have been this season.
William Saliba and Gabriel Jesus gave the Gunners a 2-0 lead going into halftime. Soon after the interval, a stunning strike from another new boy Fabio Vieira made certain of the result as Arsenal cruised through the rest of the game.
Rival teams will need to start sitting up and taking note of the Gunners’ exploits as they have a strong case for playing the best football in the PL this season so far. Opposition fans expected the Bees to give Arsenal a much tougher game, with many of them expecting Arsenal to stumble for the second consecutive PL game.
However, Mikel Arteta’s men responded in emphatic style, comfortably dispatching of Thomas Frank’s side who did not pose any threat to the Gunners’ backline. Arsenal have begun the season in impressive fashion and look set to be battling out for a spot among Europe’s elite throughout the campaign.