Ethan Nwaneri’s younger brother Emerson made his Arsenal u18 debut on Saturday, but he couldn’t help the team avoid defeat to Fulham.
Ethan Nwaneri is an established first-team player at Arsenal now, but the midfielder has a younger brother playing in the academy this season.
Emerson Nwaneri has largely been playing for the Arsenal u16s in 2025/26, scoring a hat-trick against the Chelsea u16s in September. But the youngster made the step up to the u18 squad this weekend, appearing on the bench for a match against Fulham.
The younger Nwaneri could only watch on as Arsenal fell 2-0 behind in the first 20 minutes, but Ceadach O’Neill gave the team some hope just before half-time.
O’Neill had been involved in a good chance earlier in the half, setting up Alex Marciniak to hit the post. But this time the Northern Ireland u21 international found the net himself, turning home a cross from Brando Bailey-Joseph.
Both O’Neill and Bailey-Joseph have been in good form lately, with the former providing seven goal contributions in nine games and the latter contributing eight in 11. But a quiet second half never brought the equaliser the team needed.
Emerson Nwaneri did make it on for his debut, coming on with just under half an hour to go. But it wasn’t enough to avoid another defeat, with Arsenal dropping from league leaders to fifth in the last few games.
Arsenal u18 lineup vs Fulham
Ranson, Julienne, Ogunnaike, Onyekachukwu, Chapman, Murisa, Bailey-Joseph, Hashi, O’Neill, Marciniak, Thompson
Substitutes
Nwaneri (for Bailey-Joseph, 63), Owusu-Gyasi (for Murisa, 71), Phillips (for Marciniak, 80), Lupinski, Tahou