Mikel Arteta insists he has no fears about playing wonder kids Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri in the Carabao Cup cauldron at Newcastle. Gunners boss Arteta pointed to the “special bond” between the pair who have become best pals after growing up together in the Arsenal academy. Incredibly, Nwaneri, 17, is not even allowed to change in the first team dressing room at the Emirates or training ground because of strict Premier League safeguarding rules for under-18s.

But Lewis-Skelly still often sits with Nwaneri with the other academy players in the restaurant at the training ground when they could both be with the first team. That also underlines that neither of them are getting carried away with their own hype. They are inseparable as friends and teammates while other players joke that they are joined at the hip and there can be no doubt they have guided each other through the journey into the first team.

The next big talent from Arsenal’s production line is midfield prodigy Max Dowman, 15, and he is set to be on the club’s mid-season trip to Dubai as they jet off on Thursday after the Newcastle tie. Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri both scored against Manchester City on Sunday and could play key roles in the Carabao Cup semi final at Newcastle as Arteta trusts them completely. Arteta said: “For me, it’s about how they compete, not just how they play, they are also very stable and you have to be composed and confident in yourself because there are going to be moments when they are trying to expose you as well. They will test you and how you react to those moments, those boys have shown they are happy to go through these challenges, these kinds of contexts and the bigger the game got against City, the better they became which is not easy to do but they have done that in the last few months.

“They have helped each other a lot. When you see those two walking next to each other, talking to each other, there is a bond there and a chemistry there. I imagine for them it is special because at the moment they are still in different dressing rooms. Ethan cannot be in our dressing room still, which is unbelievable. He needs to get dressed somewhere else, even on matchday. “So to have somebody close to him that has that trust, that confidence, that link. I think it is lucky. They are very lucky to have each other.” Lewis-Skelly grabbed the headlines for mocking City striker Erling Haaland ’s “yoga” goal celebration after scoring against Pep Guardiola ’s men on Sunday.

That showed courage but also delivered some theatre for the crowd at the Emirates. Arteta made it clear on Sunday that he does not want to inflame tensions and he reiterated that message, telling players to be conscious of their surroundings before doing that again. Arteta added: “Playing at home or away is very, very different. We talk about those things and we have to understand that each ground is different, their attitude, what they celebrate and what they don’t, is really very different up north as well to here in London.

“Next stop is a final in Wembley so we know how big that is and you can feel it. You can feel it straight away. The boost that the game gave us when against City, the manner that we did it and the fact that it's a game that is the closest competition we are in to a final. So we're going to give it our real go. “We're excited for sure. Willing, hungry and enthusiastic because we are very close to playing a final and hopefully, we can achieve it.”.

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