Wenger: Nketiah wasn’t even conceived when I came here!
Arsene Wenger predicted a bright future for Eddie Nketiah after the teenager stepped off the bench to fire Arsenal into the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup in a 2-1 victory over Norwich.
Josh Murphy propelled the Championship club into a 36th-minute lead after scooping a through ball over Matt Macey only for Nketiah to rescue the Gunners from the brink of an embarrassing loss at the Emirates Stadium.
A mere 15 seconds after coming on and with his first touch of the evening, he equalised from a corner in the 86th minute before nodding home the winner in extra-time.
The 18-year-old former Chelsea youth player became the first player born since Wenger started his reign as Arsenal boss in 1996 to score for the club.
“I brought him on because we needed to score goals and he can score goals. In the end we had eight strikers on the pitch,” Wenger said.
“I knew he had quality, but when the team need you and you deliver, that’s another quality you don’t know about until you go on to the pitch.
“I’m impressed to think that he was not even conceived when I was already here!”
