EPL: Arteta reveals why he made Nwaneri youngest ever player in Premier League history

Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, has said: that “pure gut feeling” was behind his decision to include Ethan Nwaneri in his squad for the Brentford match.

The Gunners returned to the top of the table following a 3-0 win at the Gtech Community Stadium on Sunday.

William Saliba, Gabriel Jesus and Fabio Vieira all scored for Arteta’s side.

However, one of the moments of the game saw a 15-year-old Nwaneri make his debut.

Nwaneri came on to replace Bukayo Saka in the 90th minute of the game.

“It was a pure gut feeling. I met the boy, I really liked what I saw. He trained with us a couple of times.

“I had that feeling yesterday that if the opportunity could come, I would do it. He deserves it,” Arteta told reporters.

At the age of 15 years and 181 days, Ethan Nwaneri became the youngest ever player to appear in a Premier League match.

The previous youngest had been Harvey Elliott, who played for Fulham at the age of 16 years and 30 days (v Wolves in May 2019).