Arsenal’s Under 18’s lost their 8 game unbeaten run this morning after being edged out by Norwich in a dreary clash at London Colney.
The rain had lashed down for most of the night, and continued to do so ahead of kick off, meaning awful conditions greeted the two teams. Norwich took a mixture of their best talents and trialists to face the Gunners, in an experimental lineup.
Steve Bould opted to rotate his table top side following Wednesday’s Youth Cup exploits. An injury to James Shea saw Charlie Mann made his Academy League debut, whilst Benik Afobe, Sanchez Watt and Oğuzhan Özyakup all started.
Mann
Obed – Blackwood – Miquel – Evina
Özyakup – Watt
Rasmussen – Deacon – Freeman
Afobe
City settled quicker to the task, and within 6 minutes they had a prize to show for their endeavour. Johnbull Omeregie’s lashed cross from the right was volleyed into the roof of the net by the arriving Nick Davey. Bould will no doubt have been furious with the slack marking.
Moments later Afobe worked Rudd up the other end, before Mann earned his corn with a reaction stop to deny Davey a second. The half time whistle came at a perfect time for Arsenal, who were on the ropes.
Half Time – Norwich 1-0 Arsenal
The restart brought a chance to regroup, but again it was the visitors who began the half better. On 54 minutes Josh Dawkin tore apart Bould’s carefully constructed defence with a deadly ball through, Danny Kelly latched onto it and although Mann saved initially, Kelly made no mistake with the rebound.
Afobe thrived as Arsenal went longer at time ticked down, Rudd was forced into action on three occasions to preserve the lead.
As the referee was telling the crowd how much stoppage time there was to be, Damien Lathrope tangled with Afobe and a penalty was awarded. Benik stepped up and coolly converted from 12 yards.
It proved to be the final action of the game. Norwich won 2-1, the Norfolk outfit also win 2-1 out of 3 encounters with the Gunners this season.
Article By – J.Sanderson
even the youth are doing shite this season. time to stop the experiment i think
arsenal need to buy 7 players to win premier league and we need to sell Manuel Almunia ,Bendtner ,Rosicky ,Gallas ,Silvestre and Eboue. please wenger listen to me i love arsenal to much and its not going good, this is the worst arsenal team ever….
how did miquel do?
thanks for the report btw
J, are you sure it was Afobe who scored the penalty? Cos arsenal.com says it was Sanchez Watt, and I’m confused!
why cant we pass and move like barca….
we pass but denilson, song, diaby and even v.persie are toooo slow to move..
i cant stand it,
even the old legs of chelsea play at a faster tempo than us..
plz arsene sort it out
Postive.
Arsenal.com said Watt, and a Norwich site said Jay Emmanuel-Thomas! Both are wrong. Benik Afobe won the penalty, and then converted it himself.
Thanks for the reply mate – good reporting on your part, as per usual
how long do you think it will be till Benik is promoted to the first team?
JS do u think Afobe will be given a go at reserve level anytime this season? As hes rated very highly and i would have thought as hes too good for youth level he might have been fast tracked like Jack Wilshere?
Why are you people commenting on a completely unrelated topic?!
As for your youth being “shite”, um… did you read the 8 match unbeaten part :S Idiot.