Ipswich 2-4 Arsenal, and a 16-year-old ran it.
Max Dowman opened the scoring after seven minutes, winning possession in midfield, exchanging a pass and finishing it himself. Noni Madueke made it two on sixteen. Dowman got his second two minutes into the second half, and Merino's strike off the post made it four before the hour.
Anis Mehmeti and Chuba Akpom then pulled two back from 4-0. Nobody's losing sleep over that.
Arteta called Dowman "unbelievable" and in the same breath said he'd look after him, which is the only sensible line to take with a boy who's now got two goals and an assist from a single senior appearance. The Guardian's match report notes Arteta has already compared him to Lionel Messi. You can hear the caution underneath the praise. The praise keeps coming anyway, because what else do you say after a display like that.
Marli Salmon, 17, was nearly as good at right-back on his first start, a week after travelling to Naples and not getting on. That's two teenagers Arteta clearly trusts in a proper away tie.
Mikel Merino captained the side and said he was honoured to. Kepa played, Gabriel and Myles Lewis-Skelly alongside him, Zubimendi and Bruno Guimarães in midfield. That's not a reserve team so much as a second first team, which is what £75m in August buys you.
Through to the fourth round, with the draw still to come.
There's a line doing the rounds about Arsenal interest in Ngumoha. I'd file it under summer noise until someone puts a fee on it.
The U21s won 1-2 at Leyton Orient in the EFL Trophy, with Max Horseman pleased about the resilience rather than the football.
Thirty shots and 2.4 xG against Crystal Palace, and nothing to show for it. That's the number that should bother Renée Slegers more than the draw itself. Manchester United at the Emirates on 19 September is a different kind of afternoon.
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