Youthful Arsenal ease into Carabao Cup quarter-finals
Bukayo Saka celebrates after scoring Arsenal's second goal against Brighton. Pic: AP Photo/Kin Cheung
Not even one member of Mikel Arteta’s staff was born when The Who launched The Kids Are Alright into the musical lexicon in the Sixties. Their front man Roger Daltrey, an avid Arsenal fan, could well have been singing about Arteta’s teenage wonderkids who booked a return to the Carabao Cup quarter-finals here.
Goalscorer Ethan Nwaneri, 18, was one of four teens in a whopping 10 changes from the Arteta side that beat Crystal Palace to cement their place at the top of the Premier League table at the weekend. He got Arsenal up and running with the opening goal before fellow homegrown hero Bukayo Saka came on as a sub to score a clinical second.
They deserved this win too, but it was not easy. Beaten semi-finalists last season, Arsenal, with the meanest defence in English football this season when at full strength, looked rattled early on as Brighton dominated midfield and created a number of good chances.
Arsenal were just as attack minded. Eberechi Eze was their most experienced forward. He scored his first Arsenal in a 2-0 victory over Port Vale in the previous round and started again in what was the club’s 250th match in the competition. The England international was signed back from Brighton rivals Crystal Palace for a bit over €60million this summer, having started his career in the Arsenal youth system.
If, at a stretch, the 27-year-old counts as a product of Arsenal’s Hale End academy, that made it five homegrown names in the starting line-up. A quartet of teenagers made up the young guns on display as Myles Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri started alongside debutants striker Andre Harriman-Annous and Max Dowman. At 15 years and 302 days old, Dowman became the youngest player ever to start for Arsenal. He turns 16 on New Year’s Eve.
Dowman was a joy to watch and, by some distance, Arsenal’s most threatening player. He constantly had the better of Brighton left-back Olivier Boscagli and had a good shout for a penalty when the experienced French defender appeared to trip him early in the second half.
Brighton buckled and Nwaneri finished a flowing passing move to score the opening goal after 57 minutes. Fittingly, the final pass came from his lifelong young Arsenal teammate Lewis-Skelly.
Arteta seized the chance to close the door on Brighton by sending on a clutch of regular starters and see the tie out. Young striker had a well struck shot saved by Brighton keeper Jason Steele and Saka reacted first to control the loose ball before driving home a low left-foot shot.
As Saka celebrated, finally silence fell at the other end of the stadium as the Brighton fans, who took up the whole of the Clock End realised their hopes of a first last eight appearance since 1978 was over.
Leandro Trossard hit a post in time added on at the end as they looked to emphasise the gap in class with more goals. Arteta always knew his squad was full of goals – even without set pieces – and now he also knows his reserve team players can defend too.
Back up keeper Kepa, signed from Chelsea this summer, was a solid replacement for David Raya. Kepa made a few good saves in the first half and then had little else to do. He combined well with the new look defence in front of him to make it a month of clean sheets and still only three goals conceded in their 14 matches this season.
And Arteta can lead his side north on to a testing away trip at Burnley on Saturday, satisfied that most of his key players will be relatively well-rested. They are next at home in the North London derby in almost a month’s time The League Cup has been very much a low priority for the Spanish coach, in line with many a former Arsenal manager, but maybe he will think again now they are three wins from a trophy win.
For a club of Arsenal's size with 13 league titles and a record 14 FA Cups, their lack of success in the Carabao Cup is unimpressive. The last time Arsenal lifted it was over 30 years ago, when they did the domestic cup double in 1993, beating Sheffield Wednesday in both finals. Their only other win came against Liverpool in 1986. Eventual winners Newcastle United knocked them out at the semi-final stage last season.
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