Arsenal secured a commanding 5-1 win against Bolton in the Carabao Cup this evening. Here is our player ratings.
Jack Porter – 6.0
A debut to remember for the result, but his inexperience was obvious each time Bolton attacked.
Josh Nichols – 6.5
Played the full 90 minutes and had a decent game at right back.
Jakub Kiwior – 7
Had to lead an inexperienced Arsenal backline and did a fine job.
Riccardo Calafiori – 7
Another start for Arsenal and another fine performance for the Italian who is winning our hearts.
Myles Lewis-Skelly – 7.5
Fearless performance from the youngster who attacked when he needed to without failing in his defensive duty.
Declan Rice – 8.0
Man of the Match performance from the midfielder who commanded the midfield, got his goal and led from the middle.
Jorginho – 6.5
Didn’t have to do much, and his legs failed him when he had to chase down Aaron Collins before the attacker scored.
Ethan Nwaneri – 8.0
An outstanding performance from the teenager, and he deserved the two goals. He could have gotten more and has probably given Mikel Arteta a selection headache.
Raheem Sterling – 7.5
He was Arsenal’s dangerman for much of the night, and it would have been unfair if he had not scored.
Gabriel Jesus – 6.0
Caused Bolton a lot of trouble with his movement, but he is a striker and has to start scoring.
Bukayo Saka – 7.5
Starboy was at his usual best and caused Bolton all kinds of trouble from Arsenal’s right wing.
Substitutes
Kai Havertz – 7.0
Came on and gave Arsenal’s attack new life. He deserved his goal.
Gabriel – 6.5
Replaced the injured Lewis-Skelly and helped Arsenal see out a comfortable win.
Maldini Kacurri – 6.5
Looked confident and assured when he came on
Gabriel Martinelli – 6.5
His bags of energy made it harder for Bolton to get out of their half.
Ismeal Kabia – N/A
Nice to see the gaffer give the kid a break, the youngster seems to have grab the opportunity with both hands.
Great game all around. We need to stay in this competition for development sake. Hope Lewis-Skelly is okay.
I thought the keeper looked a bit lost for the 1v1 where we conceded (which did show it was too early for him imo) but I was impressed with his play with the ball. He gave one away that could have been costly, but his decision making was generally good. They also tried to put pressure on him from a couple of corners and he did ok tbf.
Definitely too early for him but you can see he’s got something. Hopefully he won’t need to play in the first team again for a while (just doesn’t seem fair to him tbh), but he did well considering his age and experience level.
Our young players proved they can handle it but need more chances. Look at Barcelona, and you will understand. Trust our academy!
I think Jorginho deserves better than 6.5. Yes e lacked the legs when we conceded, but besides that I think he was pretty good. That through ball was timed to perfection. Also, the way he was rallying the kids and helping them get into position at set pieces, was nice to see that.
Nwaneri, what can I say, he was fantastic. Did not look like a 17 year old at all, so confident. I think he has the ability to fill Odegaard’s boots, against the lower teams in the prem for now.
I think kiwior deserves a bit of praise for consistently playing slightly awkward roles. He’s clearly a centre back, and clearly more suited to playing on the left side – the vast majority of games he’s played have been at lb and even in a game like this, where you’d think he’d be wanting to show what he can do with more responsibility, he’s had to play right CB to accomodation calafiori and Gabriel. Rate his attitude, and he had a good game.
Very good point Davi.In the absence of Tomi, and given the understandable decision to rest Timber and White, I had visions of Arteta pairing Rice and Kwior at CB with Calafiori at LB. That would of course have left a vacancy in central midfield which would be difficult to fill in view of our injury problems in that area.I have to say Liverpool have a strength in depth which we simply cannot match this season.They have a very good squad.
I thought everyone performed pretty well.
The youngsters adapted to physical side of the game
Worked out quickly what they needed to do and as a team we didn’t get caught out bar the goal where they turned us with long balls over the top
We have all moaned in the past about blooding more youngsters in cup games whi h we done in abundance last night and they stood up to the test.
As I previously mentioned I really like EW ad he is our brightest prospect imo for the future
Porter (Gk) looked like he had just been let out of school but had a really good game and please our boy could cope with the men around him will only get bigger a d stronger
A 8 plus for all of them
Onwards and upwards
Great win and the young players are so promising. Just a bit worried about Saka playing every game, he needs to rest.