Odegaard changes Arsenal’s face on Nwaneri’s graduation day
The Gunners return to winning ways after four Premier League games without a win
Martin Odegaard‘s injury pushed Arsenal into the abyss. The Gunners went four games without a win – two draws and two defeats – the last one against Chelsea (1-1) with the Norwegian back.
The return of ‘Matintxo’, now fully recovered, has changed the face of Arsenal, who have comfortably beaten Nottingham Forest (3-0). Arteta opted for a starting eleven with quite a few new additions: Calafiori, Jorginho, Gabriel Jesus, Timber at right back…
They came out strong. Trossard missed a one-on-one in the 2nd minute and Jurrien Timber saw a goal disallowed by the VAR in the 5th minute due to a millimeter offside by Mikel Merino, also a starter.
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Bukayo Saka broke the deadlock in the 15th minute. He received the ball from Odegaard, and cut inside past Alex Moreno, Ward-Prowse, and Milenkovic to beat Sels with a left-footed shot.
The strange thing is that the score was only 1-0 at half-time. Gabriel Jesus had a chance to score with a shot that went just wide of the post in the 26th minute and Sels was brilliant with a shot from Saka in the 42nd minute.
Arteta made his move at half-time. Thomas Partey replaced Jorginho and Thomas Partey scored the 2-0 in the 52nd minute. Saka drew the defence, passed back and the former Atlético player scored with a rocket from outside the area.
The icing on the cake was Ethan Nwaneri in the 86th minute. The youngest Premier League debutant (15 years and 181 days) scored the third in the 86th minute. He received a back pass from Sterling and sent the ball into the net.
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According to ‘Opta’, he is the second youngest player (17 years and 247 days) to score in the Premier League for Arsenal. Only Cesc Fabregas (17 years and 113 days) has more goals.