Mikel Arteta believes Ethan Nwaneri has taken a “big step” by being called up for England’s Under-21 squad and has backed him to thrive under “phenomenal coach” Lee Carsley. Nwaneri earned his first call-up to the England Under-21 squad on Friday after a breakthrough season with Arsenal.

Arteta doesn't want to compare the pairs' journeys but is proud of 18-year-old Lewis-Skelly's maiden England senior call-up.

Ethan Nwaneri has graduated to Arsenal's first team this season and rarely looked out of place but Martin Keown has concerns over the demands placed upon the teenager as he continues to rise

Ethan Nwaneri is ready for the big stage and that was evident in Arsenal’s 7-1 walloping of PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League. Nwaneri scored the Gunners’ second goal, ghosting into the box and rifling the ball into the back of the net with an emphatic finish as his side put on a statement display in the first leg of the Round of 16 clash.

With that has come hope — and possibly expectation — from some corners that a senior England call-up will be his reward. If Tuchel picks Nwaneri, it puts him in line to become England’s seventh-youngest player ever, with his 18th birthday falling on March 21, the day the national team hosts Albania at Wembley for a World Cup qualifier.

Mikel Arteta said he was "proud" of Arsenal defender Myles Lewis-Skelly after the teenager was named in Thomas Tuchel's first England squad on Friday. The defender, who was not in the England squad announced on Friday,