by Andrew Crawshaw
As Tony pointed out in his brief report on our U23s latest win on Monday Night we are really doing rather well this year. We had a 4-0 win over last year’s league winners Everton, with a hat-trick of goals from Eddie Nketiah and assists for Joe Willock.
Our matches since the start of November have seen seven wins, two draws and a single loss across both League and the Premier League International Cup. We have scored 25 goals and conceded nine. Highlights for all of these games are available on Arsenal.com and if you are not used to seeing the U23s in action I would urge you to spend a few minutes to check out some of the games.
| Ref | Match | Score | Competition | Goalscorers |
| 1 | Arsenal v Everton | 4 – 0 | PL2 (div 1) |
Eddie Nketiah (3)
Reiss Nelson |
| 2 | Sunderland v Arsenal | 1 – 3 | PL2 (div 1) |
Emile Smith Rowe,
Tyrece John-Jules (2) |
| 3 | Arsenal v Bayern Munich | 5 – 2 | PL International Cup |
Vlad Dragomir,
Jeff Reine-Adelaide (2), Jordi Osei-Tutu, Emile Smith Rowe |
| 4 | Arsenal v Man United | 4 – 0 | PL2 (div 1) |
Jeff Reine-Adelaide,
Vlad Dragomir, Eddie Nketiah (2) |
| 5 | Arsenal v Derby | 3 – 3 | PL2 (div 1) |
Chuba Akpom,
Jordi Osei-Tutu Julio Pleguezuelo |
| 6 | Man City v Arsenal | 0 – 1 | PL2 (div 1) | Jordi Osei-Tutu |
| 7 | Arsenal v Reading | 0 – 0 | PL International Cup | |
| 8 | Arsenal v West Ham | 3 – 0 | PL2 (div 1) |
Vlad Dragomir (2)
Eddie Nketiah |
| 9 | Swansea v Arsenal | 3 – 1 | PL2 (div 1) | Charlie Gilmour |
| 10 | Arsenal v Porto | 1 – 0 | PL International Cup | Reiss Nelson |
Our main Goalscorers have been Eddie Nketiah (6 goals in 5 games), Vlad Dragomir (4 in 10 games), Jeff Reine-Adelaide (3 in 4 games), Jordi Osei-Tutu (3 in 9 games – not bad for a full back), and 17 year old first year scholar Tyrece John-Jules has two from his three appearances.
Here is a listing of the 31 players who have featured (either as a starter or as a substitute) with their ages – remember that a goalkeeper and up to three outfield players are allowed to be over the age of 23. This is to allow fringe players or those recovering from injury, game time. Please note that there were a number of transfers and loans affecting some of the players in the above list, I have summarised these in the January Window column.
| Name | Age | January Window | Played in Match Reference (From Table above) X or sub S | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |||
| Aaron Eyoma | 20 | S | X | |||||||||
| Ben Sheaf | 19 | Loan to Stevenage | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||
| Calum Chambers | 23 | X | ||||||||||
| Charlie Gilmour | 18 | S | S | X | ||||||||
| Christian Bielik | 19 | Loan to Walsall | X | X | ||||||||
| Chuba Akpom | 22 | Loan to Sint-Trudinese | X | X | X | |||||||
| Constantinos Mavopranos | 20 | Arrived from PAS Giannina | X | X | X | X | ||||||
| Deyan Iliev (GK) | 22 | X | X | X | X | |||||||
| Eddie Nketiah | 18 | X | X | X | X | X | ||||||
| Emile Smith Rowe | 17 | X | X | X | S | S | X | X | S | |||
| Falorin Balogun | 17 | X | S | |||||||||
| Hugo Keto (GK) | 19 | X | X | |||||||||
| Jeff Reine-Adelaide | 20 | Loan to Angers | X | X | X | X | ||||||
| Joe Willock | 18 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
| Jordi Osei-Tutu | 19 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||
| Joshua Dasilva | 19 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
| Julio Pleguezuelo | 21 | Loan to RCD Mallorca | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||
| Marcus McGuane | 18 | Transferred to Barcelona | X | |||||||||
| Mathieu Debuchy | 32 | Transferred to St Etienne | X | X | ||||||||
| Matt Macey (GK) | 23 | X | X | X | X | |||||||
| Reiss Nelson | 18 | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
| RobHolding | 22 | X | X | |||||||||
| Tafari Moore | 21 | Loan to FC Utrecht | X | |||||||||
| Tobi Omole | 18 | X | ||||||||||
| Tojaji Bola | 19 | X | X | X | X | X | S | |||||
| Trae Coyle | 17 | S | ||||||||||
| Tyrece John-Jules | 17 | S | X | X | ||||||||
| Vlad Dragomir | 18 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Xavier Amaechi | 17 | X | X | S | ||||||||
| Yassin Fortune | 18 | X | S | |||||||||
| Zech Medley | 17 | X | S | X | X | S | ||||||
The January window has meant a number of changes will be imposed on Steve Gatting for the rest of the season.
- Centrebacks Ben Sheaf and Julio Pleguezuelo have departed on loan, Constantinos Mavapranos arrived from Greece and has immediately settled in at the heart of the defence as though he has always been there alongside Zech Medley or Rob Holding, so there seems to have been no deterioration at the back.
- The one midfielder I was sorry to see go was Marcus McGuane who was something of a specialist Defensive Midfielder; long term I fear that we may miss him.
- Jeff Reine-Adelaide is probably more of a first team player than U23 these days. His four games were a block to get him back to fitness.
- Vlad Dragomir (who usually captained the U18s last year) has taken over the captaincy from Julio Pleguezuelo. He has been the only player who has started all ten of the recent games and he is now showing real progress. He always gave glimpses of his potential but is now delivering far more consistently.
- With our main goalscorer Eddie Nketiah now spending more time with the first team squad it looks like Tyrece John-Jules and Emile Smith Rowe are quite capable of picking up the slack so I see no cause for concern there either.
Our next games are :-
- Monday February 19 19:00 kickoff – PL2 away at Leicester Holmes Park ground
- Saturday February 24 14:00 kickoff – Premier League International Cup against Dinamo Zagreb at Meadow Park Borehamwood
- Friday March 2 19:05 kickoff – PL2 against Chelsea at Borehamwood
- Monday Mar 12 19:00 kickoff – PL2 against Spurs at the Emirates (provisional date depending on Europa League and FA Cup matches)
- Friday April 6 19:00 kickoff – PL2 against Liverpool at Prenton Park
- Friday 13 April 19:00 Kickoff – PL2 against Swansea City at Meadow Park
- Friday 20 April 19:00 kickoff – PL2 against West Ham at the London Stadium
Finally a quick reminder of the Premier League 2 Division 1 Table
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | +/- | Pts |
| 1 | Liverpool | 16 | 11 | 0 | 5 | 33 | 17 | 16 | 33 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 16 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 38 | 23 | 15 | 32 |
| 3 | Leicester | 17 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 24 | 11 | 13 | 30 |
| 4 | Swansea | 16 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 32 | 25 | 7 | 27 |
| 5 | Everton | 15 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 22 | 18 | 4 | 26 |
| 6 | West Ham | 15 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 21 | 25 | -4 | 21 |
| 7 | Chelsea | 16 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 23 | 25 | -2 | 20 |
| 8 | Derby County | 16 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 25 | 29 | -4 | 18 |
| 9 | Manchester City | 16 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 25 | 26 | -1 | 17 |
| 10 | Sunderland | 17 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 30 | -17 | 16 |
| 11 | Tottenham Hotspur | 16 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 25 | 35 | -10 | 15 |
| 12 | Manchester United | 16 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 13 | 30 | -17 | 12 |
Six games to go and all to play for, one point behind Liverpool and a game in hand over Leicester in third place. No reason at all why we shouldn’t win this league even if the main Pl title is beyond us this year.
COYG
You might also enjoy
It may not be something you are encouraged to try, but a sense of perspective can help
And from the Arsenal History Society
April 1920 Arsenal gain mid-table security in their first season back.
Half time here at Borehamwood, Arsenal are shrewd but only by a single goals Danny Carter tap in from a zBeth Mead cut back. More Arsenal goals to come in the second half I’m sure.
What’s the world come to when even England centre halves (Smalling) get booked for diving.
Geordies one up now and richly deserved.
Final score at Borehamwood. Arsenal 4 Yeovil 0. Two goals apiece for Beth Mead and Danielle Carter. Yeovil still to score a goal in the WSL this season.
As Liverpool lost at Manchester City earlier today we are now up to third in the table. Full update in a day or two.
Excellent report and helpful research,Thankyou Andrew. It’s interesting to see the bottom two in the table! What does that tell us ?
Since Joncker left the quality of our youths and reserves has risen substantially- and tgey do get a chance for the first team as A!N has shown
Been an excellent year for them and u18’s so far.
Seriously impressed that they have kept the positive results coming without the three main defenders- Bielik, Pleg, Sheaf- and with others often missing and the jeff now gone.
I thought it would be a shame, though understandable, if results dropped off for both age groups after the loss of 4-5 of the stronger ones from older group. So far though, they have kept going. Winning, scoring lovely goals. U18’s managed a 6-2 win yesterday despite having six players away with Eng u17’s!
And that- this very positive season- after summer departures of Willock, Hinds, Malen, Bennacer, Crowley. Zelalem out. Bola and Mavididi on loan. Previously strong prospects like Taf Moore and Chiori Johnson being hit brutally by injury. Mcguane- who I’m a little gutted has gone- not featuring much this year.
Whatever happens from here, it has likely been a very good development year for a number of players- Willock, Da Silva, Osei Tutu and Smith-Rowe particularly stand out in that regard- and there could be plenty more to come.
@Andrew
Any chance Osei-Tutu becomes Bellerin’s deputy?
Exciting report.