The Premier League's Youngest and Oldest

Ethan Nwaneri and Arsenal set a Premier League record on Sunday which is going to be difficult to beat. The attacking midfielder came on in the 92nd minute of the Gunners' 3-0 win over Brentford to become the youngest player to ever play in the league - at the age of 15 years and 181 days. Speaking after the game, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said "it was a pure gut feeling," adding, "he had to come because we have injuries...and then I had that feeling that if the opportunity could come that I was going to do it and I just did it." As this infographic shows, that puts Nwaneri considerably ahead of the previous record holder, Liverpool's Harvey Elliott who played for Fulham in 2019 aged 16 years and 30 days.

Equally impressive, but for different reasons, is the other end of the scale. The Premier League has seen a number of players who have been able to perform at the top level of the domestic game after passing the 40-year mark. Excluding goalkeepers, who are generally able to put a few more miles on the clock than their outfield colleagues, Teddy Sheringham is at the top of the ranking. When he played for West Ham at the end of 2006, the striker was 40 years and 272 days old. Bonus fact: Sheringham is also the oldest player to have scored a hat trick in the Prem, when he put three past Bolton for Portsmouth in 2003 at the age of 37 years and 146 days.

When including goalkeepers, the oldest player accolade goes to John Burridge, who played between the sticks for Manchester City in 1995 at the ripe age of 43 years and 162 days. There are then seven other keepers between him and Sheringham. The youngest Premier League goalkeeper so far is Neil Finn, who was 17 years and 3 days old when he was used by West Ham in 1996.