This competition may be low down on Mikel Arteta’s list of priorities, but that doesn’t mean the Arsenal manager doesn’t attach value to it. On a night when fourth-choice goalkeeper Jack Porter became the youngest player to start a game for the Gunners at the age of just 16 years and 72 days in the absence of the injured David Raya, it was Ethan Nwaneri who caught the eye as the 17-year-old scored twice on his full debut.

After the aftermath of their storming draw with Manchester City, Arsenal never really looked beaten by opponents who used to relish giving Arsène Wenger’s teams a bloody nose in the Sam Allardyce era once Declan Rice had put them ahead. Aaron Collins briefly made it a contest for Bolton after Nwaneri’s double either side of half-time. But having lifted the trophy just twice and not since George Graham was manager in 1993, Raheem Sterling ensured it was a mix of youth and experience that smoothed Arsenal’s progress to the fourth round with a goal on his full debut before substitute Kai Havertz added a fifth.

Arteta had warned that the fallout from the painful draw against City would force him to make several changes, with Porter breaking Cesc Fabregas’ record for a League Cup appearance in 2003 due to Raya’s thigh injury and reserve goalkeeper Neto sitting out the cup. Raya is expected to recover in time for Saturday’s Premier League clash with Leicester, but this was a chance for Porter – who was on the bench for Atalanta last week and excelled for the English age groups – to impress, along with a number of other promising youngsters who were not even born when the Emirates opened in 2006.

Only three players survived the weekend, with Riccardo Calafiori moving into central defence and Sterling making his first start. There was also positive news from Martin Ødegaard in the captain’s programme notes, with the Norwegian midfielder writing that he is “making progress and I feel more positive every day” after injuring an ankle ligament while on international duty.

Bolton made a slow start after coming so close to promotion from League One last season, but arrived in north London on the back of a 5-2 thrashing of Reading on Saturday. Their manager, Ian Evatt, resisted the urge to select striker Dion Charles after his hat-trick in the match and made seven changes. But, buoyed by a significant number of travelling players, they enjoyed a more impressive start. Calafiori gave the ball away on the edge of his own penalty area and was almost made to pay when John McAtee picked out Scott Arfield with a clever back-heel, but he could only fire over Porter’s bar from close range.

Bolton fans were furious when they felt Gabriel Jesus had brought down Josh Sheehan in the penalty area after another promising strike. They were made to pay soon after when Arfield missed the ball trying to clear Josh Nichols’ cross and Rice curled the ball home emphatically from the edge of the box. Nwaneri – who in 2022 set the record as Arsenal’s youngest player when he also broke the Premier League record of 15 years and 181 days – excelled in the No.10 role as Arsenal took control, with Sterling and Bukayo Saka both coming close to setting up Jesus on more than one occasion.

Nwaneri’s big moment came not long before half-time when Myles Lewis-Skelly’s pass allowed Sterling to tease out the 17-year-old with a perfect low cross for a simple finish to make it 2-0. Things could have been even worse for Bolton had Luke Southwood not been able to push away Sterling’s curling effort or Jesus not fired wide.

In north London, Bolton were the architects of their own downfall for the first time since a 2011 EFL Cup defeat in the same season they were relegated from the Premier League, ahead of Nwaneri’s second. Barely four minutes into the second half they were caught trying to play out from the back and Rice struck, with Nwaneri coolly finishing.

But they refused to throw in the towel and Collins almost pulled one back straight away when he took advantage of McAtee’s through ball to round Porter. Their resistance was ended when Sterling poked home after Saka’s shot had been saved. He could easily have added to his tally, but it was up to Havertz to round off a near-perfect evening.