Sports
Arsenal Beat Brentford 3-0, As Nwaneri Becomes Youngest Premier League Player
Arsenal has reclaimed first place in the Premier League with a 3-0 victory over Brentford, in a game that saw Nigeria eligible, Ethan Nwaneri make his debut for the Gunners as the youngest ever player in the premier league.
Arsenal’s three goals came from William Saliba, Gabriel Jesus, and Fabio Vieira.
Injuries to captain Martin Odegaard and Oleksandr Zinchenko stretched Mikel Arteta’s squad to the point where 15-year-old Ethan Nwaneri came off the bench late to become the Premier League’s youngest player.
However, the Gunners showed no signs of weakness at a ground where they were beaten 2-0 last season, returning to the top of the table one point ahead of Manchester City and Tottenham.
The game was moved forward two hours to help ease police pressures surrounding Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, and Britain’s longest serving monarch was remembered with a minute silence before kickoff.
Once the action began, it was one way traffic for 45 minutes as Arsenal avenged their lone defeat of the season two weeks ago away to Manchester United.
Gabriel Martinelli should have opened the scoring within two minutes, but his shot from Granit Xhaka’s cutback was deflected.
Arsenal made the breakthrough after only 15 minutes when Saliba flicked Bukayo Saka’s corner in off the far post.
As he powered home another enticing delivery from Xhaka, Jesus used his head to score his fourth goal in seven Premier League games since joining from Manchester City.
Saka then squandered a glorious chance from Fabio Vieira’s through ball.
The absence of Odegaard also gave Vieira his first Premier League start, and the Portuguese midfielder made his mark with a sumptuous strike from outside the box four minutes into the second half to put the game out of reach.
Brentford striker Ivan Toney had received his first England call-up in midweek, but the towering presence of Saliba kept him in check.
After an impressive start to the season, the Bees will be hoping that Thomas Frank will still be in charge after the international break, with the Dane being linked as a potential successor to Brendan Rodgers at Leicester.
But Arsenal’s easy day was capped a minute from time when Arteta gave Nwaneri his Premier League debut at the age of 15 years and 181 days, breaking Harvey Elliott’s record as the youngest player in Premier League history when he appeared for Fulham as a 16-year-old. AFP
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