WANDERERS were dealt a harsh lesson by Arsenal’s superstars, young and old, as they bowed out of the Carabao Cup in spectacular fashion at the Emirates.

Expectancy levels were practically zero among the 4,000 travelling fans, whose raucous support to the bitter end was the unquestionable highlight of a humbling evening.

Aaron Collins’s excellent second-half strike at least gave them a sliver of satisfaction to take back to the North West on a rain-drenched night and this kind of scoreline did not sting quite as much as it once would have done.

Many of the fans who stayed past the final whistle to sing their undying love will be there at Crawley on Saturday, and Northampton next week, and it is in these lesser fixtures that the Whites can really prove if they have the mettle to turn around their season or not.

But Arsenal’s class made this a training exercise at times, their young playmaker Ethan Nwaneri outstanding in the middle of the park, scoring twice. The Gunners’ three other goal-scorers, Declan Rice, Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz may also have a decent future in the game.

Arsenal’s decision to make youth team keeper Jack Porter their youngest-ever starter at 16 years old was a major talking point throughout the day, with Mikael Arteta forced to dig deep into his roster thanks to injuries and unavailability.

And although he was joined by a few more youngsters in the starting line-up, including the Premier League’s youngest-ever player, Ethan Nwaneri, the front line of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling said all it needed to say.

Wanderers made seven changes to the side that beat Reading. Eoin Toal took the captain’s armband but only he, Ricardo Santos, Josh Daces-Cogley and Josh Sheehan kept their starting spot, as Evatt looked on to a game at Crawley just 64 hours later.

The first half would be a case of ‘what might have been’ for the Whites, who held their own but failed to take the few morsels offered to them by their hosts.

Scott Arfield skied an early chance, backheeled into his path by John McAtee, and had his shot hit the back of the net then maybe, just maybe, Evatt could have considered the kind of defensive iron curtain that Arsenal employed at Manchester City a few days earlier.

Instead, we got a slightly less adventurous version of Bolton – entirely understandable in the circumstances – but each time either wing-back pushed forward, the speed at which the home side snaffled up the extra space was eye-watering, ensuring wide centre-backs Toal and Forino had a long night.

Wanderers may feel that a penalty shout on 15 minutes, sparked when Josh Sheehan went sent sprawling by a clumsy-looking challenge from Nichols after a one-two with Santos, was their last real route into the game.

Referee Josh Smith didn’t want to know but within a minute the Gunners had pounced on a bad mistake from Arfield and were 1-0 up themselves.

Young full-back Nichols played a tame pass along the edge of the box which seemed to skip up over the veteran midfielder’s foot, eventually dropping for Declan Rice to bury into the bottom corner.

Wanderers did just enough to stem the Arsenal pressure for the next 15 minutes, Jesus helping out with a couple of wasteful shots from close range. And they eventually played their way back into some possession, McAtee sending another shot inches over the bar after Toal had hooked the ball back into the box following a corner.

The former Luton striker also had a goal ruled out for offside after chasing on to Sheehan’s perfect pass.

Once again, if Bolton had got back on level terms, a more pragmatic approach could have been considered, but their eagerness ended up leaving just enough space for Arsenal to burst through again.

Lewis-Skelly fed Sterling, who rolled a cross into the six yard box for Nwaneri to bundle in past the sprawling Southwood. And suddenly, it was impossible to see a way back.

The third goal was exactly the type Evatt and Wanderers would have wanted to avoid. Another short ball from the back by Santos, a sloppy flick from Forino, and suddenly Nwaneri was bearing down on Southwood’s goal, finishing with aplomb for his second of the night.

To Wanderers’ credit, they didn’t buckle. Instead, they grabbed the most eye-catching goal of the night as they gathered the ball from an Arsenal corner and McAtee pushed a pass through for Collins, who outpaced Califiori, went around the keeper, and rolled the ball into the back of the net to give the 4,000 travelling fans something to savour.

Moments later Collins charged down a clearance from young keeper Porter, the ball dropping harmlessly wide, but Arsenal were not about to let their grip on the game slip in the North London rain, and Sterling grabbed a goal on his first start after Saka had beaten Toal and Williams all ends up. The close-range finish is not one Southwood will want to see again.

McAtee came within a whisker of turning in Collins’ low cross before both sides embarked on a flurry of substitutions, the Gunners flexing their muscles by bringing on Gabriel and Kai Havertz.

The flexing wasn’t quite over. Ten minutes from the end Havertz prodded home from close range after both Jesus and Sterling had embarked on a bit of penalty box showboating.

Arsenal’s sold-out home support briefly found their voice at that stage, having been largely out-sung by their Lancastrian visitors the whole evening.

It wasn’t pleasant viewing at times and when you drill down into most of the goals Bolton conceded they had stemmed from mistakes, but there was no denying the huge chasm in class between the two teams.

What was always a free hit has hopefully left no lasting damage. Wanderers did not appear to have picked up any injuries and there was enough rotation in the squad to give Evatt a relatively fresh line-up at Crawley, when the stakes are much higher.