Arsenal reached the Carabao Cup fourth round on Wednesday evening as they beat Bolton Wanderers 5-1 at the Emirates Stadium.
A much-changed Arsenal lineup featuring a handful of academy prospects were given the odd scare by their visitors, but a brace from Ethan Nwaneri and goals from Declan Rice, Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz secured a comfortable victory.
How the game unfolded
The first chance of the game actually fell to the League One visitors but Scott Arfield fired over from close range after just four minutes. Bolton felt they should have been awarded a penalty ten minutes later when Josh Sheehan was brought down in the area but referee Joshua Smith waved play on.
Arsenal rubbed salt in Bolton wounds just a minute later and it was Rice who put the Gunners ahead. Some poor defensive work from the away side saw the £105m midfielder collect the ball on the edge of the area before calmly placing his strike beyond Luke Southwood.
John McAtee almost offered up a response just after the half-hour mark but blazed over from a recycled corner kick, with Arsenal once again punishing Bolton’s profligacy at the other end shortly afterwards.
The Premier League’s youngest ever debutant was the provider of Arsenal’s second, with Nwaneri tapping home Sterling’s cross from a few yards out to put the home side in complete control of the game at half-time.
Bolton gifted Arsenal a third moments after half-time with Nwaneri picking off a sloppy pass before firing home from just inside the box to bag himself a well-deserved brace. Southwood got a hand to the teenager’s effort but couldn’t keep it out.
Just five minutes later, Bolton reduced the deficit with a sharp counter-attack. Striker Aaron Collins was sent through on goal following McAtee’s excellent pass and he rounded 16-year-old Jack Porter in the Arsenal goal before slotting home.
But Arsenal’s three-goal cushion was restored shortly after the hour mark as Sterling grabbed his first goal since his move to north London. Bukayo Saka was the creator as his cross was spilled by Southwood, with Sterling prodding over the line for one of the simplest goals of his career.
Sterling then turned provider as Kai Havertz added some gloss to the scoreline. The former Liverpool and Manchester City winger danced into the area and saw his shot rebuffed towards the penalty spot, with his German teammate on hand to poke into an empty net.
Arsenal eased their way to the final whistle with little fuss, securing an emphatic…
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