Ethan Nwaneri will look back fondly on his first two away trips to Brentford.
In September 2022, he became the Premier League’s youngest-ever player at 15 when he replaced Fabio Vieira in added time. Back at the Gtech Community Stadium two-and-a-half years later, he became the third-youngest player ever to start a Premier League game for Arsenal at the age of 17 years and 286 days. Only Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott did it younger.
He took the injured Bukayo Saka’s place on the right wing as Mikel Arteta continued to experiment in the England international’s absence.
“In that position, it wasn’t because of the bug,” the Arsenal manager said in his post-match press conference, referencing the illness that had kept several out of the game. “It was a decision I made because I thought he was the best player to play in that position to start the game. And because there was a story there with his debut here. Making his Premier League debut, sometimes that feeling comes in and you feel it’s the right one and then who knows.”
Although he is a natural midfielder, Nwaneri’s development through Arsenal’s academy has helped his readiness to fill Saka’s shoes on the right. He recently admitted to the Arsenal website that he had been used in defensive midfield at points. The Athletic has also detailed his use not just as an attacking midfielder, but as a winger on both flanks and as a centre-forward for the under-18s and under-21s in the 2022-23 season.
Nwaneri delivering a cross on Wednesday (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Arteta recently spoke in a press conference about how that could see him develop into a striker in the future. For now, however, the work and talent of Nwaneri saw Arteta trust him to contribute off the right flank. Although most of his football for the first team has come in midfield, Arteta has drip-fed Nwaneri minutes on the right wing going back to last season.
When Arsenal were 6-0 up away to West Ham last February, Nwaneri was the one to replace Saka on the right. He played 13 minutes and constantly combined with Martin Odegaard, who has been a reference point for his growth in recent seasons. In an October interview, academy manager Per Mertesacker said: “In Ethan’s case you see where he will develop and actually transfer his game into those pocket areas, like Martin Odegaard.
“Ethan is an attacking midfielder who can play multiple positions but sometimes to develop his running in behind and defending as a winger (he may play elsewhere) and Mikel will use it to his strength.”
That has proven to be the case. Nwaneri shows different qualities out-wide from the ‘pocket play’ when he plays in midfield. The teenager was confident enough to go on the outside of Keane Lewis-Potter to get crosses in off his weaker right foot early on against Brentford.
Nwaneri’s ball retention was then key after the game turned with Bryan Mbeumo’s opener. In a moment that could have contributed to the increasingly frantic nature of the first half, he received the ball with three players around him. A couple of feints later, he flicked the ball through to Jurrien Timber, who found Odegaard. The captain won a foul in midfield and a sense of calm was restored.
Nwaneri was found again in a similar position two minutes later and skipped by a challenge before passing forward to Gabriel Jesus, who equalised in the same possession. Those dribbles are already one of Nwaneri’s standout traits. His nutmeg and drive past Lewis-Potter in the second half may have raised eyebrows to those watching on TV, but moments like that have been part of his game since he was in the academy.
That ability saw him lead the game in progressive carries (five).
A similar run and shot breathed life into the Emirates at 2-2 against Leicester City in September. In these moments, Nwaneri appears to glide with the ball more than running with it.
“It was always there,” Des Ryan, formerly Arsenal’s head of sports medicine and athletic development who is now director of sport at Ireland’s University of Galway, tells The Athletic.
“You could see it at the early age groups. It’s a dream for a strength and conditioner/sports scientist because you don’t have to teach a person how to run (with the ball). He had the movement skills. You could develop his strength, so he could exert more force through the ground and condition him, so he could do it repeatedly. They’re the easy ones like with Bukayo and Serge Gnabry too.”
Nwaneri had a part to play in Arsenal’s second and third goals (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
Importantly, like the academy graduate he was deputising, Nwaneri also played a key part in Arsenal’s second and third goals. His corner in the build-up to Mikel Merino’s goal was delivered perfectly to give Mark Flakken grief in the Brentford goal. This should not come as a surprise. Arsenal’s players and staff have trusted the youngster to take corners when he has been on in place of Saka against Bournemouth (when they were 2-0 down), Liverpool and Nottingham Forest this season.
His crossing from open play helped create Gabriel Martinelli’s goal too. This was not a coincidence. In the team’s pre-match warm-ups, rather than playing the usual intricate passes inside the box, Nwaneri was whipping crosses to Merino at the back post.
Took this during the pre-match warm-ups
Even though they won’t count as assists, it’s nice that two Nwaneri crosses were key to Arsenal winning this evening https://t.co/zQVqmaFbeI pic.twitter.com/dCLKxJvHOA
— Art de Roché (@ArtdeRoche) January 1, 2025
Considering all three of the goals Arsenal scored against Brentford last season were headers, that could have been a deliberate ploy. Neither Merino nor Martinelli’s goals were headers, but both players were benefactors of what can happen when crosses are used to ask questions of the opposition.
A lot has happened since Nwaneri’s last outing at the Gtech Community Stadium and this one. Arsenal have grown into serious title contenders, while Nwaneri has had to mature as a young man and professional footballer. Navigating the growth of the club and talented young individuals is not easy, but in Nwaneri’s case, Arteta has not rushed to reward him with his first Premier League start.
“Part of that development is patience,” the Arsenal manager added. “And managing frustration and expectations because you expect that everything is going to go so fast as the previous things did. That’s not the case. Now we’re building him. He’s already played a lot of minutes for us for the age he’s at and he fully deserves that.”
Nwaneri had already made 16 appearances for Arsenal in all competitions this season, starting three games in the Carabao Cup. On the back of his first league start, he has now played 432 minutes of senior football in 2024-25. That has come after a telling 189 minutes across five matches in pre-season.
With a couple of Saka-less months coming on the right flank, Nwaneri has shown he is more than capable of being trusted by Arteta in various in-game contexts. A difference maker against the team with the joint-best home record in the league (Brentford and Liverpool have won 22 points at home this term), Nwaneri’s latest trip to west London was just as beneficial as his first, if not more so.
(Top photo: Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)
