Nwaneri stars as England U21s thrash Moldova 4-0

Ethan Nwaneri starred for England Under 21s as Lee Carsley's side secured a 4-0 win against Moldova in qualification for the European Championships.

Divin Mubama scored his first two goals for England U21 but it was Nwaneri who was the star of the show, as he helped his side to maintain their perfect record after two matches of European Championship qualifying.

Arsenal's Nwaneri was given licence to roam in the number 10 position, and provided assists for the opening two goals scored by Chelsea winger Jamie Gittens and on-loan Stoke striker Mubama in Chisinau.

Nwaneri also laid on the through-ball which saw debutant Josh King brought down for a 74th-minute penalty.

Mubama converted from the spot before Rico Lewis added a fourth in the 89th minute.

The win briefly took Lee Carsley's side top of Group D but Slovakia's 2-2 draw with the Republic of Ireland saw both sides, who have played one game more, move back above them.

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It was Nwaneri's 28th-minute run, having offloaded the ball, which took two defenders with him and allowed Gittens to cut inside on his right foot and beat Victor Dordon at his near post with a shot the goalkeeper should have done better with.

Everton winger Tyler Dibling started to become more influential, winning a free-kick which Nwaneri fired over, but it was the Arsenal man who continued to pull the strings and early in the second half the pair combined for the latter to weave past a couple of defenders, only to run out of pitch before he could cross or shoot.

Jobe Bellingham lashed a left-footed shot just wide before Birmingham goalkeeper James Beadle made his only intervention of note by punching away an inswinging corner under his crossbar.

In the 68th minute, Nwaneri's clever reverse pass picked out Mubama, who took one touch and beat the goalkeeper for pace, before his well-placed spot-kick meant even though Dordon guessed correctly, he could not reach it.

Brooke Norton-Cuffy forced a good save out of the goalkeeper before, in the 89th minute, Rico Lewis picked up the ball from deep and ran at a back-tracking defence before beating Dordon inside his left-hand post from the edge of the penalty area.