Arteta could now start one of 'English football's biggest jewels' for Arsenal v Bolton, he's 'unbelievable' - opinion

Arsenal will look to continue on their solid run of form when they get their League Cup campaign under way on Wednesday night.

The Gunners emerged from a taxing run of games with a win and two draws, having triumphed in the North London derby and drawn against Atalanta and Manchester City.

Now, Arsenal will look to reach the fourth round of the League Cup as they host League One side Bolton Wanderers at the Emirates Stadium.

Although Mikel Arteta will not take Bolton for granted, there’s a good chance he will make a number of changes.

Indeed, the Arsenal boss may be forced into shuffling his deck, as the Gunners could have up to 13 players out, according to the Evening Standard.

Arsenal are likely to make changes in midfield, considering they were already missing Martin Odegaard and Mikel Merino.

With that in mind, there’s a good chance the Gunners could finally hand a first start to a young midfielder who has been deemed one of “English football’s biggest jewels”.

Great chance for Arsenal to start Ethan Nwaneri

The player in question is Ethan Nwaneri, a record-holder for both Arsenal and the Premier League.

He made footballing history back in September 2022 when he was handed his Arsenal senior debut at the age of just 15 years and 181 days in the 3-0 Premier League win against Brentford.

Nwaneri’s appearance made him the youngest ever player to appear in the latest iteration of the English top flight, as well as the youngest ever Arsenal player.

The 17-year-old has made three competitive Gunners appearances to date. After the Brentford game, he also came on against West Ham last season and against Tottenham earlier this month.

Nwaneri is yet to start for Arsenal, and the Bolton game could well be the perfect opportunity for him to do so.

Nwaneri style of play

Football Talent Scout’s Jacek Kulig has described Nwaneri as “one of Hale End and English football’s biggest jewels”, and it would be great to see him hit another milestone for Arsenal.

Kulig also spoke about Nwaneri’s style of play on his website.

He described Nwaneri as a “modern midfielder who sees the game differently from most revealing creativity, cleverness at his off-the-ball movements, great vision, and passing ability orchestrating or providing dynamism to the team’s build-up process with ease and effectiveness.”

READ MORE: Arsenal could move to sign £20m striker with ‘electric speed’ in January

Mikel Arteta on Nwaneri’s development

Arteta recently lifted the lid on Nwaneri’s development, saying the player has come a long way in recent months.

“Huge development,” Arteta said of the “unbelievable” talent. “I think big credit to everybody working in the academy.

“The coaches starting with Jack (Wilshere), Mehmet (Ali), all the coaches around him, Per (Mertesacker), that have prepared the player to be in the right position right now to shine and be prepared for the different context, and obviously the demands that he is going to be facing right now.

“He’s been doing really well, physically very mature, personally very mature, his game understanding has improved a lot.

“And then let him do. He has an enormous quality, a lot of talent and he needs the space to shine.”