Declan Rice sends perfect Ethan Nwaneri message and makes five-word Arsenal prediction

Declan Rice has heaped praise on Ethan Nwaneri after the Arsenal teenage sensation scored his first Premier League goal during their 3-0 rout over Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

Goals from Bukayo Saka and Thomas Partey had put the Gunners in control at the Emirates Stadium before Nwaneri, who came on in the 82nd minute for Martin Odegaard, wrapped up the three points. The 17-year-old played a one-two with Raheem Sterling before side-footing the ball beyond goalkeeper Matz Sels.

It was a neat finish from the London-born midfielder, who now has four goals in nine appearances across all competitions this season and is enjoying a fine breakthrough season. Nwaneri had scored a brace in the Carabao Cup against Bolton before adding a further goal in the win at Preston.

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After scoring in his first in the top flight against Forest, Nwaneri took to Instagram and posted a simple image of him celebrating and the red love heart emoji. There was an abundance of praise for the teen in the comments, with Rice among those to show his appreciation for the Hale End academy graduate.

Rice said: "Couldn't be happier for you, you got everything to come," followed by a red love heart emoji.

Nwaneri, who doesn't turn 18 until March, became the youngest player to ever appear in the Premier League at the age of 15 years and 181 days against Brentford in September 2022. He had made just one further appearance until the start of this season, however, after Mikel Arteta prepared to wait to hand him a string of games.

But this campaign Nwaneri has been a shining light having been given more game time. He has been in the matchday squad for every game so far, and although he has started just two of those, his contribution has been impressive to say the least. He has four goals in just 238 minutes this term.

Speaking on Nwaneri and his bright future, Arteta said in his post-Forest press conference: "Something I cannot do myself, I cannot manage expectations. I will try to educate him, raise him, and give him the pathway that we believe is the best. His family, his agent, his friends, they will be very important as well.

"Don’t listen too much to the noise, focus on what he does which is to play football and he loves every minute of it and good things will happen to him for sure."