Teenager steps in for Ethan Nwaneri as Arsenal thrash Bolton 5-1 | Carabao Cup

This competition may be low on Mikel Arteta’s list of priorities, but that doesn’t mean the Arsenal manager doesn’t value it. On a night when his fourth goalkeeper Jack Porter became the youngest player to start for the Gunners in the absence of the injured David Raya at just 16 years and 72 days old, it was Ethan Nwaneri who turned heads as the 17-year-old scored twice on his debut.

After their tumultuous draw with Manchester City, Arsenal never looked truly beaten by opponents who, in Sam Allardyce’s era, gave Arsène Wenger’s sides a bloody nose whenever Declan Rice put them ahead. Aaron Collins got Bolton back in the game just before half-time after Nwaneri’s double. But Raheem Sterling, who had only won this trophy twice and not since George Graham took charge in 1993, ensured it was a mixture of youth and experience that paved Arsenal’s way into the fourth round, scoring on his debut before substitute Kai Havertz added a fifth.

Arteta had warned that the fallout from Sunday’s agonising draw with City would force him to make several changes. Porter surpassed Cesc Fàbregas’ record for appearances in a League Cup match in 2003 as Raya was nursing a thigh injury and stand-in goalkeeper Neto was unable to play in the cup. Raya is expected to be fit in time for Saturday’s Premier League game against Leicester but this was an opportunity for Porter – who was on the bench at Atalanta last week and shone for England’s age-group teams – to impress, along with a number of other promising youngsters who were not even born when the Emirates opened in 2006.

Only three players survived the weekend. Riccardo Calafiori moved into central defence and Sterling made his first start. There was also positive news from Martin Ødegaard in the captain’s programme notes. The Norwegian midfielder wrote that he was “making progress and feeling more positive every day” after tearing ankle ligaments in an international match.

Bolton got off to a slow start after coming so close to promotion from League One last season, but arrived in north London buoyed by a 5-2 win over Reading on Saturday. Their manager Ian Evatt resisted the temptation to field striker Dion Charles after his hat-trick in the match, making seven changes. But with a significant number of travelling players, they made the more impressive start. Calafiori lost possession on the edge of his own penalty area and almost paid for it when John McAtee played a clever back-heel trick to Scott Arfield, who fired over Porter’s bar from close range.

Bolton fans were outraged when they felt Gabriel Jesus had brought down Josh Sheehan in the box after another promising attack. They felt it soon after when Arfield missed the ball while attempting to clear a Josh Nichols cross and Rice emphatically fired the ball home from the edge of the box. Nwaneri – who set the record as Arsenal’s youngest player in 2022 when he also broke the Premier League record at 15 years and 181 days – shone in the No. 10 role as Arsenal took control of proceedings, with Sterling and Bukayo Saka both coming close to providing Jesus with an assist on more than one occasion.

Nwaneri’s big moment came just before half-time when Sterling took a pass from Myles Lewis-Skelly and found the 17-year-old with a perfect low cross, which he easily finished to make it 2-0. Things could have been even worse for Bolton had Luke Southwood not been able to deflect Sterling’s shot to safety or Jesus had not missed.

Bolton were responsible for their own downfall for the first time since a 2011 EFL Cup defeat in north London, the same season they were relegated from the Premier League, when Nwaneri scored his second goal. Barely four minutes of the second half had gone by when they tried to play out from the back and Rice pounced on them and Nwaneri coolly finished.

But they refused to give up and Collins almost immediately reduced the deficit when he took advantage of McAtee’s through ball to round Porter. Their resistance ended when Sterling netted after Saka’s shot had been blocked. He could easily have added to his tally but it was Havertz who rounded off a near-perfect evening.