Year: 2009

Arsenal’s Under 18’s continued their rampant title charge this morning with an impressive 2-0 win over a hugely talented Chelsea side in the London derby at London Colney. Luke Freeman continued his superb form against the Blues with his 10th of the season before Conor Henderson wrapped things up with a fine strike to seal victory.

Dunn
Hajrovic – Boateng – Miquel – Evina (c)
Aneke – Frimpong – Henderson
Deacon – Afobe – Freeman

Benik Afobe smacked the post and forced two stunning saves from the Chelsea ‘keeper while Roarie Deacon could and should have made the scoreline look even more comprehensive. However, Steve Bould’s boys will take the 2-0 ahead of a key few weeks which sees them take on Norwich and then Crewe as the Gunners look to defend their F.A Youth Cup title.

Article By – J.Sanderson

Arsenal will return to Brazilian Serie ‘B’ outfit Juventude in January with a second and ultimately successful bid for their exciting play-maker José Luis dos Santos Pinto, known simply as Zézinho.

After the 17-year-old had a successful trial last summer, Arsenal have been intent on snapping up the Brazil Under 17 international but a bid of £1.5 million was rejected, with Juventude asking for closer to his buyout clause of £35 million. However, after prolonged negotiations, Ivan Gazidis has thrashed out an arrangement which will see around £5 million change hands for the prospects services.

A diminutive, skilful and strong left footed winger who can play as a striker, South American scout Sandro Orlandelli has been making regular checks including witnessing him bag a stunning winner against Portuguesa in August. Celta Vigo have already been in touch regarding a potential loan spell but Arsène Wenger is yet to assess his options.

Zézinho is one of the most experienced youngsters in the Brazil youth teams and you can check out the goal that Orlandelli watched the starlet score in August below.

Click Here To Watch The Video

Article By – J.Sanderson

Diminutive striker Luke Freeman has collected the Lamb Awards sponsored Young Guns Player Of The Month crown for November 2009, after the powerful front-man bagged two goals and maintained his position at the top of the Reserves and Youth goalscoring charts.

Luke’s month began on the 2nd when he played the final 13 minutes for the Reserves as they went down 2-0 to Portsmouth. The young forward replaced Sanchez Watt and looked bright but couldn’t find the net to help start a late fight back.

Five days later Freeman was in action again as the struggling Under 18’s took on Charlton at London Colney. He walked away with two goals in a 6-0 win and could have had even more if it wasn’t for some smart goalkeeping from the Addicks. The efforts were his 8th and 9th of the season.

Following the international break, Luke’s next outing was the Under 18 clash with Southampton on the South Coast. The youngster didn’t net in the 3-0 win but he came close on numerous occasions and turned in a typical hard-working shift alongside Benik Afobe. The two are forming a lethal partnership in attack for Steve Bould’s boys.

The former Gillingham and Charlton trainee is the first player to win the Player of the Month gong twice, after previously winning it in August 2008. You can see the full list of winners Here.

Article By – J.Sanderson

Arsenal representatives were among a strong crowd in Croatia last night to make checks on the progress of Romelu Lukaku in RSC Anderlecht’s Europa League clash with Dinamo Zagreb.

Chief Scout Steve Rowley has already sent Tony Adams to Belgium to check on the giant front-man and after being impressed, the club have gone for a second look on a much bigger stage for Lukaku, the Europa League. Zagreb claimed the points thanks to Miroslav Slepička’s winner but they had goalkeeper Tomislav Butina to thank for keeping 16-year-old Lukaku at bay.

Romelu exchanged passes with Mbark Boussoufa to open up the Dinamo defence on the half hour mark but Butina came rushing out of his goal and managed to slide tackle the powerful striker. 15 minutes later he had more work to do as the same man cut inside and fizzed a left footed drive right at him, another solid block did the job.

The burly starlet has 8 goals from 13 league appearances for Anderlecht but it’s at youth level where he’s really stood out. 121 goals in 88 fixtures for the B team and 1 in 1 game for Belgium’s Under 21’s make him a real prospect for the future. Real Madrid and Chelsea have shown tentative interest while the Gunners are set to continue their scouting before making a decision.

The player’s family have previously issued a firm ‘hands off’ warning, stating Romelu will stay with Anderlecht until he is at least 18, but whether that stance continues it is unknown. In the meantime, check out Lukaku’s talents in this compilation video.

Click Here To Watch The Video

Article By – J.Sanderson

Arsenal’s rampant young Gunners were finally tamed for another year this evening as they crashed out of the Carling Cup after a 3-0 defeat to Manchester City at Eastlands. Carlos Tevez, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Vladimír Weiss did the damage.

With the scalps of West Brom and Liverpool already under their belts, Arsène Wenger’s charges faced their biggest challenge yet in a multi-million pound, trophy hungry City team. To compensate for the quality of opposition, Wenger included first-team regulars Tomáš Rosický and Alexandre Song while Łukasz Fabiański started between the sticks. However, it was largely a youthful lineup.

Fabiański
Eboué – Song – Silvestre – Traoré
Ramsey – Eastmond – Wilshere
Rosický – Vela – Mérida

Subs: – Mannone, Gilbert, Bartley, Frimpong, Coquelin, Randall, Watt.

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Arsenal’s tenacious young starlets will get another opportunity to add to their growing reputation this evening as they travel to the City of Manchester stadium to face Manchester City in the quarter finals of the Carling Cup.

Having brushed aside West Brom and Liverpool on route, the Gunners face their most difficult task yet – a multi-million pound, trophy hungry City side. They may be on a run of eleven successive draws, but their vast resources and desire for any form of prize makes the middle Eastern influenced outfit a dangerous beast.

The on running first-team saga involving pantomime villain Emmanuel Adebayor will add extra spice, yet for Wenger, who openly admits he uses this tournament as an extension of the Reserve team, the fixture offers him another chance to check just how good his reinforcements are.

In terms of team-news, goalkeeper Łukasz Fabiański is set for an outing after making his return for the second-string against Aston Villa, while Fran Mérida will also be available after news that his ban won’t come into effect until the 9th of December. Craig Eastmond is set to win the battle for the holding midfield role despite Emmanuel Frimpong’s suggestion he can do the role in a similar manner to Alex Song.  Jay Emmanuel-Thomas is cup-tied after playing for Blackpool, Sanchez Watt will be benched after a minor car crash in the week.

Predicted Starting XI

Fabiański
Gilbert – Senderos – Silvestre – Traoré
Ramsey – Eastmond – Mérida
Walcott – Vela – Wilshere

Kick off is at 7.45pm. Arsenal TV Online are offering fans the chance to listen live to the game for free, while a host of TV networks are expected to show the encounter. A full Match Report will follow immediately on the full-time whistle.

Article By – J.Sanderson

As Arsène Wenger readys his squad for the trip to Eastlands tomorrow, there is still great debate as to who will lineup against an expected multi-million pound Manchester City XI in the 7.45 kick off.

Wenger confirmed this afternoon that the youngsters will play, but their may be a scattering of more senior young players. Jack Wilshere is expected to be passed fit while Craig Eastmond will be in the squad. But whether he will start at the expense of Francis Coquelin or Emmanuel Frimpong, nobody knows.

So in a feature often run on Gooner Talk, we’re going to open up the team selection debate to our readers. Post your views below.

Article By – J.Sanderson

Last week Young Guns had the pleasure of meeting some members of the Russian Arsenal Federation where we conducted a long over due interview. This is the main feature on this months ‘Gun Party’ podcast. Credit to Nick Gavrilov who put the questions to Jamie Sanderson on behalf of the hugly popular Gunner Tales site run by Dmitry Kresovich.

We discussed:

* Jay Simpson’s future
* Benik Afobe’s future
* The Carling Cup
* Steve Bould’s credentials
* Potential coaching staff changes
* Potential transfers

Plus much more. You can listen to the ‘cast over at the Gunner Tales website or alternativly download it by clicking Here. The opening is of course in Russian, but the actual interview in conducted in English with translations at the bottom.

As earlier reported on Young Guns, Wellington Silva opened the scoring and then converted a penalty as Fluminense beat Botafogo to claim the national Brazilian youth league at the weekend. The young striker is set to join Arsenal imminently.

Our eagle eyed readers have managed to find video highlights of the fixture including Silva’s excellent goal. You can view it below.

Click Here To Watch The Goal

Article By – J.Sanderson