Arsenal’s Reserves kick off their Platinum One Challenge campaign tonight against Manchester United’s Reserves at the Tallaght Stadium in Dublin. The three team tournament got underway last week, with United beating hosts Shamrock Rovers 3-0.
Neil Banfield has taken a strong squad to the Emerald Isle with newly promoted first-team players Henri Lansbury, Havard Nordtveit, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Craig Eastmond and Emmanuel Frimpong all being included. Jay Simpson has also travelled while the club have won an extension to Wellington Silva’s work permit, allowing him to take part.
We caught up with Manchester United Reserves expert Nick from United Youth to gauge the Red Devils views on tonight’s fixture. We kicked off by asking him about the United travelling party;
“Neville’s been confirmed as travelling, he played in the opening game against Shamrock Rovers. I’d expect he’ll maybe play 45 mins or an hour in both games. He’s had no real pre-season to speak of so far. Elsewhere it’ll be the bulk of the side that won the Reserve League last season, minus a few who’ve gone out on loan but bolstered by a few of the academy players you’ll have seen in that Academy League semi-final in May.”
“Ritchie de Laet’s the leader at the back, Reserves Player of the Year last season and has played a few games for the first-team already. Lots of talk he’s off on loan but if it doesn’t happen in the next few days he should feature. Magnus Eikrem’s been captain throughout pre-season – he’s very much the playmaker and a set-piece specialist (as is Oliver Norwood). The front three are all very young but Nicky Ajose in particular has had a really prolific pre-season from the wing.”
Thoughts on the make up of the tournament and what role it will play in both season’s preparations?
“I guess it’s all about putting the finishing touch to preparation. We’ve played half a dozen games against a variety of opposition, everyone’s got plenty of games under their belts, I’d expect to see us play our first-choice lineup for these couple of games now (perhaps with the exception of Gary Neville, who looks set to feature as part of his return from yet another injury). It’s good to have a test against a side like Arsenal, especially with the way the reserves league has been revamped, and the Shamrock Rovers first-team should provide a decent challenge for both of us. It’ll be a great experience to play in front of (hopefully) a big crowd over in Ireland as well, with English football and both clubs being so popular.”
Finally, a view on the team Arsenal are taking and what they can offer?
“A lot of them are quite familiar from past youth team encounters, various England youth squads and spells out on loan, although I can’t claim to have seen too much of any of them really. There’s clearly a lot of quality at Arsenal. lots of players on the fringes of the first-team or with senior experience elsewhere – the likes of Lansbury, Frimpong, Randall etc. I’d guess a few of those from the side that beat us on penalties in the Academy League semi last season will be involved too. I’ve been quite impressed by Thomas Cruise from what I’ve seen of him, he was one of the few England players to stand out in the U19 Euros last month.”
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is there any where i can watch this game ??! love to wa tch it
yae tallaght stadium and i cant wait 4 it
I’ve heard rumours about Frimpong being injured for 8-12 months. Any information, J.? They’re probably just rubbish, but with our injury problems it wouldn’t surprise me if they were true.
if its true that wenger will have to go back into the market
J any news on the keeper situation
Schwarzer is injured so wenger might pull out of the deal which either we look for another GK or be happy with almunia
why would we have to go back to the market because of a reserve getting hurt?
Would love to watch these games…..
yeah, any word if its televised j?
Most likely Man U TV? ATVO will only have live text updates? I wish I could find some info if’ on anywhere too?
Please hope Frimpong is oK? We don’t need a GK.(I’m so tired of the GK talk) We need more CB’s(tall)???
Norwegian, I was talking about it on Twitter earlier. We’ve still waiting to get it confirmed so until then, treat it as speculation.
J sky sports are reporting that Traore is having a medical at benfica at the fee is 4 million euros. Do you think we would have added a sell on clause to that?
and Its also reporting that Simpson will be sold to hull for a million in the next 48 hrs. Will there be a sell on clause to his contract aswell
and please keep us updated on Frimpong’s situation I still cant believe this is happening to the kid.
Frimpong: that could be a disaster to the Kid and it will derail his development. and if it is 8 – 12 months, then that is a double fracture. hope it is not real.
if it turns out to be true then it means that wenger will go back into the market which means the end from frimpong or eastmond
typical Arsenal another great talent injured. WTF is going on? We surely need a dm now as Wenger said he considered to buy one but opted to Frimpong and Jack to stay.
Splash the cash or we have no chance!!
How does a reserve player getting injured translate to splash the cash or we have no chance? lol.
does anyone know if there is a stream where i can watch the game?
its official he is injured