Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has admitted that Chelsea's loss is his side's gain after young forward Eddie Nketiah hit a brace on his home debut.
The 18-year-old, with just one cameo appearance to his name prior to last night, struck twice to help the Gunners successfully overturn a one-goal deficit against Norwich City in the EFL Cup.
Nketiah opened his scoring account for the club less than 20 seconds after being brought off the bench, before heading home what proved to be the winner early in extra time at the Emirates Stadium.
Wenger was delighted with the impact made by the England Under-19s international, who left Chelsea's academy at the age of 14 to link up with London rivals Arsenal.
"I brought him on because we needed to score goals and he can score goals," he told reporters. "In the end we had eight strikers on the pitch. 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.
"Hopefully he'll have a long career at Arsenal. We're proud to give chances to young players, it's part of our DNA, and we want to continue to do that. I don't know why exactly Chelsea let him go or if he decided to leave, but young players more and more nowadays travel from one club to another.
"We're happy to have him. I can't remember a young player having such an impact in a game like that. Until he came on we lacked ideas and creativity."
Nketiah is the first player born after Wenger was appointed Arsenal manager to net a goal for the club.
