Arteta lauds Nwaneri as youngster’s goal against PSV takes him closer to Rooney and Owen record | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta hailed Ethan Nwaneri’s performance against PSV with the youngster closing in on a record held by former teenage sensations Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen.

Only Rooney and Owen have scored more goals, nine each, for a Premier League side in all competitions than Nwaneri before turning 18.

And the Arsenal star’s goal in the 7-1 thrashing of PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League round of 16 first leg means he is now just one away from matching their record, and two from breaking it.

Asked if that record could push Nwaneri even further, Arsenal boss Arteta responded: “I don’t think that he needs any pushing.

“You see every time he has the ball what the intention is. If it comes, it comes.

“Really impressive again, the way behaved, the way he played tonight and it’s about consistency now, doing it again.”

Former Ajax star Jurrien Timber kicked things off for the Gunners at the Philips Stadium before Nwaneri and then Mikel Merino added a goal each before the half-time whistle went.

Noa Lang smashed home a penalty before the break but it proved to have little impact on the game after a flying start to the second half for the visitors which saw Martin Odegaard and Leandro Trossard both find the back of the net, before Odegaard added his second and Calafiori converted a seventh for his side late on.

And Arteta praised his side for what he called a “special night”.

“I really enjoyed the match,” he said. “Thank you to the players for the performance they put in on a big night for us against a really good side.

“The way they (PSV) went through in the last round against Juventus was really impressive so in the manner we’ve done it, the way we played, the goals that we scored, thank you because it was a special night.

“It’s about execution. Today we were exceptional.

“We talked before the game, both boxes in the Champions League are critical, you have to dominate them. We were phenomenal.”