Arsene Wenger Full of Praise for Eddie Nketiah After Starlet Inspires Win Over Norwich

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was full of praise for 18-year-old Eddie Nketiah following the youngster's super sub performance in their 2-1 win over Norwich in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night.

The Gunners were staring defeat in the face courtesy of Jacob Murphy 34th minute goal, until the introduction of 18-year-old Nketiah who scored within 15 seconds of his arrival on the pitch. 

The striker then added his second goal of the game and his career when he headed home Theo Walcott's corner in the sixth minute of extra time to secure victory for his side.

Speaking to the press after the game Wenger revealed that he knew his substitute would score, saying: "We needed to score goals. He knows how to score goals. We have seven or eight strikers on the pitch. He has qualities. If you can deliver when the team needs you, that is a quality you do not know if you have until you show it."

In the process of scoring Nketiah became the first player to be born and score a competitive goal since the arrival of Wenger at the club and the Frenchman admitted he has high hopes for the forward.

"I’m impressed that he wasn’t even conceived when I was first here! Life gives chances to young people. We hope he has a proud career. Giving chances to young players is part of what this club is about." 

As well as Nketiah the match saw a debut for Matt Macey and starts for young players Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Reiss Nelson.

Wenger named an inexperienced bench and reinforced his philosophy of breeding young players for the club when asked about the reason behind that, saying: 

"The boy Eddie is a good example. If I have experienced players on the bench I would certainly have put them on and not Eddie. Here you have no chance to put an experienced player on so you send on a young player instead."