Arsenal 2-0 Brighton & Hove Albion
by Layth Yousif
at Ashburton Grove
GOALS from two of Arsenal’s academy graduates Ethan Nwaneri and Bukayo Saka sealed a 2-0 victory for the Gunners against Brighton on Wednesday evening.
On a chilly night in north London when the alumnus of the club’s Hale End talent line memorably hone, Mikel Arteta’s side eased into the last eight of the League Cup.
Proof the competition was low on the Basque-born boss’s priority list as ever — the club were aiming to win the trophy for only the third time in their history — was the fact Arteta made 10 changes against the Seagulls, from the team that started the 1-0 win against Crystal Palace, that sent the north Londoners four points clear at the top of the Premier League.
Max Dowman, 15, became Arsenal’s youngest ever starter, while promising academy striker Andre Harriman-Annous made his first team debut. It was such a young side that Myles Lewis-Skelly — at the grand old age of 19 years and 33 days — was the eighth-oldest player in the team.
In a lively start that underlined the young guns’ inexperience, the visitors could have been two goals up in the first 10 minutes.
Ironically it was sloppy play from the side’s oldest midfielder, Christian Norgaard who lost the ball to Diego Gomez to prompt a swift Brighton break after eight minutes.
Stefanos Tzimas played in Georgino Rutter, who looked certain to score, but his drive was blocked by an alert Kepa, in for the rested David Raya.
Sixty seconds later, Rutter returned the favour, to play a deft pass to Tzimas, but the striker steered the ball wide of Kepa’s near post when bearing down on goal.
After the Brighton’s initial verve, their 5,000 fans massed behind Jason Steele’s goal in the first half, sang their anti-Crystal Palace songs, and booed former Eagle Eberechie Eze.
As an antidote to such rivalry, it was nice to note the home fans welcomed former Gunner, Danny Welbeck back to Islington with warm applause, when the evergreen 34-year-old embarked on a touchline run as a substitute.
On 24 minutes, with Albion boss Fabian Hurzeler sporting a beige-on-beige combo with black gloves while prowling along the touchline, Rutter attempted a long-range effort which Kepa gathered.
Yet it was Dowman that thrilled, showcasing his now-trademark traits surely stemming from having such innate self-confidence, that can come from possessing an excellent technique.
It was all there. His love of driving at back-pedalling defenders, his quick feet, superb close control, as well as his equally crowd-pleasing dummies, feints and mazy runs. Not to mention the darting way he dropped his shoulder to beat defenders, before using that wand of a left foot.
It was understandable Arteta purred with praise after the match. “It was a special emotional evening,” the boss reflected, adding: “For Max, everything is natural.
“The way he plays, that’s the secret, he doesn’t make a big fuss, he plays with a lot of courage and determination and showed some incredible skill, capacity to run past players.”
And to think Dowman is still only 15 years and 302 days old.
The deadlock was eventually broken after the break, when two of Arsenal’s older players combined, with Nwaneri (18) firing home from a Lewis-Skelly (19) cross, after Mikel Merino’s impish backheel, as the Gunners sliced open the visitors backline to make it 1-0 on 57 minutes.
A flurry of substitutions including warm applause for Dowman after being replaced by Saka on 71 minutes, punctuated proceedings, as the tempo dropped.
However, Saka, yet another Hale End graduate of course, doubled the lead a mere five minutes later to make it 2-0, after Steele blocked Harriman-Annous’ effort.
Prior to the raw but talented young striker — and cousin of England rugby union star Maro Itoje — being replaced by Declan Rice, the club’s £105m record signing coming off arguably the strongest substitutes’ bench in Arsenal’s 139-year history, which also included Gabriel, David Raya, Viktor Gyokeres, Jurrien Timber, Riccardo Calafiori, Martin Zubimendi, not to mention Saka and Leandro Trossard.
As the clock ticked down there was still time for former Seagull Trossard to hit the post shortly after his introduction, as Arsenal booked a place in the quarter-finals, where they will face Crystal Palace in north London in December.