Arsenal’s attacking midfielder Ethan Nwaneri has now chalked up eight goals in 28 games [David Horton/SPP]

RECORD-CHASING Ethan Nwaneri has three games to score two goals, starting with this Sunday’s Premier League trip to Old Trafford to take on a Manchester United side with a defence as leaky as the roof that hangs over their home stadium.

Then PSV Eindhoven visit the Emirates on Wednesday desperate to redeem themselves in the Champions League.

But with the Gunners still basking in Tuesday’s 7-1 victory at the Philips Stadion – becoming the first-ever team to score seven away goals in a single Champions League knockout game in the process – it would be foolish to bet against anything other than the woeful Dutch visitors conceding another glut of goals.

Then comes another home game for Mikel Arteta’s side, this time when London rivals Chelsea make the short trip across the capital in the league.

Nwaneri was among the goal-getters against PSV, making him the third-youngest scorer in a Champions League knockout game at the age of 17 years and 384 days. The record was set by Bojan Krkic when he scored for Barcelona in 2008 aged 17 years and 217 days, while Jude Bellingham, who scored for Borussia Dortmund in 2021 aged 17 years and 289 days, is second.

If Arsenal’s eye-catching academy graduate can continue the blistering form that he has already shown this season and ripple the net just twice more, he will topple a record held by some of England’s most iconic teenagers.

The attacking midfielder has now chalked up eight goals in 28 games in all competitions. That goal return puts him within touching distance of Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney, who scored nine goals each in all competitions when they were aged 17 or younger. Nwaneri now has three goes at matching – or even beating that record – before he turns 18 on March 21.

Arteta is adamant that Nwaneri won’t need any more motivation when he’s out on the pitch.

“I don’t think that he needs any pushing,” said the Arsenal boss. “You see him every time he has the ball what the intention is, so if it comes, it comes, and it’s great.

“I’m really impressed with the way he behaved and the way he played. It’s about consistency and now doing it again three days later in another big stadium.”

Arteta also took a moment to revel in his players netting the club’s biggest ever away win in the Champions League.

He said: “It’s something that hasn’t been done so it’s great to be a part of that, but as a team we want to achieve many other things that are far more important than that.

“I am happy because we are in a very strong position to go to the next round which is where we want to be, but there’s still a job to do for sure in London in a week’s time.”

Quickly setting his sights on the game at United this Sunday, Arteta added: “Well, it [the win over PSV] obviously gives us a lot of joy, confidence and belief, and then in football, it’s not what we did three days ago, or today – it’s about what we’re going to do tomorrow, or at Old Trafford, how we behave and [are we] able to win again.

“Enjoy tonight because it was a very impressive performance, an unbelievable score, so we deserve that, and now take that, and keep improving as a team.”