Arteta Praises Ethan Nwaneri After Making Premier League History

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has hailed the rave of the moment, Ethan Nwaneri after he became the youngest player to play in the Premier League at the age of 15 years and 181 days in Arsenal's 3-0 win over Brentford on Sunday.

The English prodigy replaced Fabio Viera in stoppage time to make his Premier League debut for the Gunners.

William Saliba, Gabriel Jesus and Fabio Viera scored for Arsenal to send them back on top of the Premier League log going into the international break.

Ethan Nwaneri, who plays as an attacking midfielder, was born in March 2007.

He has now beaten the record set by Liverpool's Harvey Elliot, who made his Premier League debut for Liverpool against Fulham aged 16 and 30 days.

He represented England Under 16 when he was 14 years old.

Nwaneri has made several appearances for Arsenal's U-18.

Arteta believes Nwaneri was given the opportunity because he is a talented player whom the club needs to develop.

“It was a pure gut feeling,” reflected Arteta in his post-game press conference.

“I met the boy, I really liked what I saw.

"Obviously, Per and all the academy staff are giving me really good information about him and Edu as well.

“I met him, he’s trained a couple of times with us, yesterday he had to come because we have all the injuries, especially the injury of Martin [Odegaard].

“Then I had a feeling from yesterday that if the opportunity could come, I was going to do it [give him his debut]. I’ve just done it.

“It’s another step, an experience in your career.

"Not all the steps are going to be forward.

"After that, maybe he needs three backwards to go another one forward.

"But I think he deserves it, and, as well, it sends a strong message about who we are as a club.”

“All the decisions that we take, that I take, is for the club.

"It’s not for me or the player, it’s because we believe that he has a talent that has to be developed incredibly in the next two to three years.

Arsenal will Premier League action with a derby clash against Tottenham at the Emirates Stadium.