The under-21 team began their Premier League 2 campaign on Friday night, but Arsenal kicks off the new Premier League season against Wolves at home on Saturday afternoon.
Arsenal’s starting lineup for their Premier League opener against Wolverhampton Wanderers appears to include Ethan Nwaneri. The 17-year-old Nwaneri has played in all five of the team’s preseason matches this summer.
He started the first two matches against Manchester United and Bournemouth and then came on as a substitute against Liverpool, Bayer Leverkusen, and Lyon. In the former, the youngster took Kai Havertz’s place; in the latter, Martin Odegaard was substituted.
But Friday night’s revelation concerning his participation in the starting lineup this season was the biggest one. Premier League 2 saw Arsenal’s under-21 team play Man United in their opening match.
The first half saw the Gunners jump out to a 4-0 lead thanks to goals from Khayon Edwards (twice), Michal Rosiak, and Nathan Butler-Oyedeji, who also opened their season accounts.
Following another straight red card to Ethan Williams, two more goals from Ethans, Wheatley and Ennis, cut the deficit in half at the half.
However, Nwaneri was not present when Myles Lewis-Skelly onto the field as a left-back. This was a noteworthy exclusion considering that the midfield player had started all seven of the team’s regular season games as well as both of its postseason games.
A few hours later, on Saturday morning, video of the Arsenal players checking into a hotel before their season opener surfaced on social media. Nwaneri was one of the familiar faces that showed up.
The midfielder will not have been chosen by manager Mikel Arteta since the first leg of Arsenal’s Champions League quarterfinal matchup against Porto in Portugal, if the player makes the matchday roster.
Nwaneri had made his season debut against West Ham United earlier in February, coming on as a late second-half substitute. He came off the bench for the sixth and final time this season in all competitions against Porto.
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