Ethan Nwaneri put in another impressive performance for the Arsenal u21s this week, despite ending up on the losing side against Aston Villa.

The Arsenal u21s mirrored the first team with a defeat to Aston Villa on Monday night, losing 5-3, but 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri continued to make an impression for the team.

Despite the eventual result, the Arsenal u21s initially took the lead in the match. Ismeal Kabia raced away down the right before cutting a pass back towards Nwaneri, but Villa’s Aidan Borland put the ball into his own net.

Villa then took control of the match, scoring five times to put the game beyond any doubt, but there was still time for Nwaneri to get the goal he was denied by Borland.

Picking up the ball in the 87th minute as part of a corner routine, Nwaneri curled a first-time finish into the top left of the net for 5-2.

In injury time, Nwaneri added a second from close range. Once again, he was in position for a square pass from Kabia, and this time he got to the ball first to finish the chance. The match highlights are available here.

The late comeback wasn’t enough to secure any points, but it means Nwaneri now has 17 goals and three assists in his 16 appearances for the Arsenal youth teams this season.

Considering he often operates as a midfielder, that’s an impressive record.

Nwaneri has also played matches for the England u17s this season, scoring four goals and assisting one in seven appearances.

In other Arsenal youth news related to Monday night’s game, it was noteworthy that Myles Lewis-Skelly started the match at left-back.

Recent reports have suggested that Arsenal coaching staff believe midfielder Lewis-Skelly could ultimately end up as a left-back, inverting into midfield in the same style as Oleksandr Zinchenko.

Monday’s game certainly suggests that’s something the u21s are willing to try, but the experiment didn’t last long on this occasion. Lewis-Skelly was substituted for Josh Nichols at half-time.