PATINO IN DREAM ARSENAL DEBUT

It was stuff of dreams for young Englishman Charlie Patino who came off the bench for Arsenal to make his mark during the Carabao Cup quarterfinal tie with League One giants Sunderland earlier this week. A lot of Arsenal fans had waited for manager Mikel Arteta to give him an opportunity to show his quality and the 18-year-old did just that when he came on for England international Emile Smith-Rowe with ten minutes left to play against the Black Cats.

By the time of his entrance, Arsenal had already won the game but that didn’t stop the young midfielder from seizing his opportunity. He was given just ten minutes to shine and he made it count by netting the fifth Arsenal goal in added time to seal a 5-1 win over the Black Cats. Patino produced a smart finish to score in the 91^st minute off the assist from the impressive Nicholas Pepe. The Ivorian winger did his best to show Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta what he has been missing with one goal and two assists during the game. Pepe scored the second Arsenal goal in the 27^th minute after Eddie Nketiah had given the Gunners the lead ten minutes earlier before he provided the assist for the fourth Arsenal goal from Nketiah and the fifth Arsenal goal from 18-year-old Patino.

With the fourth Arsenal goal, Nketiah was able to score his hattrick to take his Carabao Cup tally to five goals in three games this season and a total of ten goals in nine matches. He was responsible for the first, third and fourth Arsenal goals.

The reward for the 5-1 home win over the Black Cats in the last eight of the Carabao Cup is a semi-final tie with Liverpool next month for a place in the Carabao Cup final.