Arsenal reached the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup with a 2-0 victory over Brighton on a night that belonged to their academy, as second-half goals from Ethan Nwaneri and Bukayo Saka rewarded a heavily rotated side and pushed the Gunners into a home tie with Crystal Palace in the last eight.
Mikel Arteta made 10 changes from the team that beat Crystal Palace on Sunday and handed Max Dowman, aged 15 years and 302 days, a place in his starting line-up to make him the youngest player ever to start a match for the club. The 17-year-old striker Andre Harriman-Annous was also given a senior debut, with only Eberechi Eze retained from the weekend.
Brighton waste their early openings
Brighton began the brighter side and should have made their pressure pay. Georginio Rutter forced an early save out of Kepa Arrizabalaga, and Stefanos Tzimas later shot wide from inside the area after a counter-attack. Charalampos Kostoulas could only fire wide from a corner that followed a moment of brilliance from Dowman at the other end.