Teenage kicks for Ethan Nwaneri as Arsenal thrash Bolton 5-1

This competition may be somewhere down Mikel Arteta’s priority list but that doesn’t mean the Arsenal manager doesn’t value it. On a night that saw his fourth-choice goalkeeper Jack Porter become the youngest player to start a game for the Gunners at the age of just 16 years and 72 days in the absence of the injured David Raya, it was Ethan Nwaneri who caught the eye as the 17-year-old scored twice on his full debut.

After the fallout from their tempestuous draw against Manchester City, Arsenal never really looked like being turned over against opponents who used to revel in giving Arsène Wenger’s sides a bloody nose back in the days of Sam Allardyce as soon as Declan Rice had put them in front. Aaron Collins ensured that Bolton did briefly manage to make a contest of it after Nwaneri’s double strike either side of half-time. But having only lifted this trophy twice and not since George Graham was manager back in 1993, Raheem Sterling ensured it was a mixture of youth and experience that smoothed Arsenal’s progress into the fourth round with a goal on his full debut before substitute Kai Havertz added a fifth.

Arteta had warned that the effects of Sunday’s bruising draw against City would force him to make several changes, with Porter surpassing the record held by Cesc Fàbregas in a League Cup tie in 2003 due to Raya’s thigh injury and the back-up goalkeeper Neto being cup-tied. Raya is expected to recover in time for Saturday’s Premier League meeting with Leicester but this was an opportunity for Porter – who was on the bench in Atalanta last week and has excelled for England’s age group sides – to impress, along with a number of other promising youngsters who weren’t even born when the Emirates opened in 2006.

Only three players survived from the weekend, with Riccardo Calafiori shifted to central defence and Sterling making his first start. There was also positive news from Martin Ødegaard in the captain’s programme notes, with the Norway midfielder writing that he is “making progress and I’m feeling more positive every day” after ankle ligament damage on international duty.

Bolton have made a slow start after coming so close to being promoted from League One last season but arrived in north London buoyed by a 5-2 thrashing of Reading on Saturday. Their manager, Ian Evatt, resisted the urge to select striker Dion Charles after his hat-trick in the game and made seven changes. But backed by a sizeable travelling contingent, they enjoyed the more impressive start. Calafiori gave the ball away on the edge of his own area and was almost made to pay when John McAtee picked out Scott Arfield with a clever back-heel but he could only fire over Porter’s bar from close range.

Raheem Sterling scores Arsenal’s fourth from tap-in range. Photograph: Paul Childs/Action Images/Reuters

Bolton’s fans were incensed when they felt Gabriel Jesus had brought down Josh Sheehan inside the area after another promising attack. They were made to pay soon after when Arfield missed the ball as he attempted to clear a cross from Josh Nichols and Rice curled home emphatically from the edge of the area. Nwaneri – who set the record as Arsenal’s youngest player in 2022 when he also broke the Premier League mark aged 15 years and 181 days – excelled in the No 10 role as Arsenal assumed control of proceedings, with Sterling and Bukayo Saka both coming close to setting up Jesus on more than one occasion.

Nwaneri’s big moment arrived not long before the break when Myles Lewis-Skelly’s pass allowed Sterling to pick out the 17-year-old with a perfect low cross for a simple finish to make it 2-0. It could have been even worse for Bolton had Luke Southwood not been able to push Sterling’s curling effort away to safety or Jesus not fired wide.

In north London for the first time since an EFL Cup defeat here back in 2011 in the same season they were relegated from the Premier League, Bolton were the architects of their own downfall for Nwaneri’s second. Barely four minutes of the second half had elapsed when they were caught trying to play out from the back and Rice pounced, with Nwaneri coolly applying the finish.

But they refused to throw in the towel and Collins pulled one back almost straight away when he capitalised on McAtee’s through ball to round Porter. Their resistance was ended when Sterling poked home after Saka’s shot was saved. He could easily have extended his tally but it was left to Havertz to round off an almost perfect night.