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Anglo-Nigerian Arsenal starlet Ethan Nwaneri has made history as the Premier League’s youngest-ever player after coming off the bench in Sunday’s 3-0 win over Brentford.
The midfielder was named in Mikel Arteta’s first-team squad for the trip across the capital, as captain Martin Odegaard missed out through a knock sustained in training.
Fabio Vieira started in Odegaard’s place for his first Premier League start, and the 22-year-old marked his full debut in the competition with a stunning 25-yard effort in the second half.
Vieira put Arsenal 3-0 up after William Saliba and Gabriel Jesus had both headed home in the first half, with Arsenal producing a dominant performance on the Brentford turf.
In the dying minutes of the clash, Vieira went off to a standing ovation from the Arsenal fans, as Nwaneri made his first-team debut for Arsenal at the age of 15 years and 181 days.
Arsenal’s travelling fans greeted Nwaneri’s appearance by singing, “He’s going to school in the morning.”
In doing so, the England U-17 international became the youngest-ever player in the Premier League, surpassing the previous record set by Harvey Elliott, who appeared for Fulham aged 16 years and 38 days.
Nwaneri and Arsenal comfortably saw out the final few moments of the match as the Gunners returned to the top of the table before next month’s North London derby with Tottenham Hotspur.
