Youth Round-up: Draw for Academy, and Reserves win as U17 Internationals continue to shine in Korea

U18 Academy League:

Charlton U18s 2 - 2 Arsenal U18s

Having beaten Chelsea convincingly the week before, Arsenal maintained their early unbeaten record as the champions of their division last year traveled to Charlton on Saturday morning last weekend. Having fallen 1-0 behind after Charlton striker Scott Wagstaff scored in the seventh minute, Arsenal levelled early in the second half through an amazing striker by Jay Emmanuel-Thomas from just inside Charlton's half. But Wagstraff wasn't finished yet, and he again put the Addicks in front with half an hour left, with a simple finish after good work by Danny Uchechi for Charlton. But Arsenal's youth team showed the same imporessive spirit as the first team it seems, and squared things up with less than 10 minutes remaining, from a header by Rui Fonte from a set piece. However, with four first team players at the U17 World Cup, Steve Bould can be satisfied at this result.

Team:
Wociech Szczesny, Abu Ogogo, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, James Dunne, Paul Rodgers, Havard Nordtveit, Mark Randall (Craig Eastmond 75), Kieran Gibbs, Jay Simpson, Nacer Barazite (Vincent van den Berg 70), Rui Fonte

Reserve League South:

Fulham Reserves 1 - 2 Arsenal Reserves

In the opening reserve league fixture of the season, Arsenal fielded a young but very talented team against an equally inexperienced Fulham side, with Bendtner and Traore notable inclusions for the Gunners. And Arsenal got off to the perfect start as Bendtner recieved the ball in the first minute from Nacer Barazite, clipped the ball into the path of Jay Simpson, who expertly finished the move off. And Arsenal kept the pressure up with Gibbs, Traore and Simpson all having efforts go close, before the Gunners doubled the lead they deserved. 35 yards from goal Arsenal were awarded a free kick following a challenge on Bendtner by Adrian Leijer. James Dunne tapped the ball to the onrushing Traore who bulleted the ball into the top corner. But just before half time Gibbs gave away a penalty which was tucked away by Fulham to give the home side hope for the second half. However, a great defensive performance, particularly by Nordtveit who was made captain, ensured Fulham didn't breach the defense as Arsenal held on for the three points.

Team: Vito Mannone, Paul Rodgers, Armand Traore, Abu Ogogo, Havard Nordtveit, Kieran Gibbs, James Dunne, Nacer Barazite, Mark Randall (Jay Emmanuel-Thomas 37), Jay Simpson, Nicklas Bendtner (Rui Fonte 63)

Young Guns on International Duty:

Fran Merida (Spain):

Fran Merida helped Spain to a somewhat easy victory over Korea DPR on Wednesday, Spain triumphing 3-0 in the end. Merida played 79 minutes as two Bojan goals and another goal by Iago gave Spain a place in the Qarter Finals against France in what should be an excellent match.

Henri Lansbury, Gavin Hoyte, and Rhys Murphy (England):

The prominent duo of Henri Lansbury and Rhys Murphy helped massively as England triumphed over Syria to set up a clash-of-the-titans against old foes Germany for a place in the Semi Finals. Having already scored a penalty against Brazil in the previous match, when England weere given a chance to give themselves a lead against Syria from the penalty spot up stepped creative midfielder Henri Lansbury again, and again he scored with his spot kick. And he wasn't finished then either, as he helped lay on an assist for club team mate Rhys Murphy to score his first goal in the tournament as England ran out 3-1 winners over the battling Syrian side.

Youth Transfer News:

Jay Simpson: The young striker who was made reserve captain last year has made a loan move to Millwall until January. Simpson has already engraved his name into the history books at the Emirates Stadium with the first ever hat-trick at the venue in a Youth Cup fixture against Cardiff last year, so it'll be interesting to see how he does in competitive football.

Antonio José Puerta Pérez and Ray Jones - RIP

With the tragic news of Sevilla player Antonio Puerta, it really is a sad, sad day for football today as Puerta's funeral will take place in Spain, just four days after he took part in Sevilla's opening La Liga campaign against Getafe.
In a shocking reminder of how little football means when it is put into perspective by the death of such a promising young man with the world at his feet, his team-mate Hinkel has paid tribute to his former colleague.

"We are completely shocked and cannot believe it," Hinkel told Bild."We heard that he was connected to a ventilator and that he was improving. "This is so terribly sad. His girlfriend is expecting their baby."

"During the game the situation did not seem very dramatic," he continued."Puerta stood up and walked unaided to the dressing room."

And this terrible news coming only days after another death of a young footballer in Ray Jones, a QPR player and England youth international, who died in a car crash just four days short of his 19th birthday.

"Ray was a beautiful boy. He was a fantastic person with a big big heart. He was only 18 years of age and had his best footballing years in front of him. He was already a hero amongst QPR supporters and he had the potential to go on and become a legend."
"He really did have the footballing world at his feet and the fact he can`t go on and fulfil the undoubted potential he had is a tragedy in itself. "
"Ray was one of the most popular figures in the dressing room. No-one ever had a bad word to say about him and for me that says everything you need to know about Ray Jones, that person and the footballer."
"It's a tragic loss and our sympathies and condolences go out to his family and friends at this awful time."

My condolences go to the families of both of these very different, but very promising young footballers who have had their lives tragically cut short. It's events such as these which immediately put into perspective the true importance of football compared to very real events such as these.

Team News: Arsenal Vs Sparta Prague

Good and bad news for Wenger as Arsenal look to finish off Sparta at home.

With Senderos injured in the warm up on Saturday, and Sagna limping off only 20 minutes in to the match, anyone thinking that we might see Gilberto, or worse, Alex Song, in defence against Sparta will have had their fears eased by the fact that Senderos has made a recovery from his ankle injury in time for this game.

“The injuries are Eboue (ankle), Gallas (groin) and Lehmann (Achilles),” said the Frenchman at Tuesday’s press conference. “Sagna is injured too with a kick in the back but he should return for Portsmouth on Sunday. Senderos is back in the squad.”

With the tie all but over really at 2-0 from the first leg, I am not sure whether Wenger might even rest a couple of our key players from the starting line up. The fact that Theo Walcott was left from the squad for the Man City squad would suggest to me that he will be starting come 8 o'clock tomorrow, but we'll have to wait and see. If Theo does start, I would imagine it will be to replace Hleb. And with the way that Sparta played in the first game, it may be wise also to rest star duo Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie, with the perfectly able Denilson replacing the Spaniard and perhaps Eduardo being joined by Bendtner (replacing Adebayor) up front. I would definitely love to see a combination of little and large in Eduardo and Bendtner as our striking force in this game.

This is the team I'm guessing we'll see at any rate:
---------------------------------- Almunia ----------------------------------

Hoyte ------------------- Toure ------------- Senderos -------------- Clichy

Walcott ----------------- Denilson ----------- Flamini ----------- Rosicky

-------------------------- Eduardo ---------- Bendtner ---------------------

Young Guns impressing in the Far East

With the Premiership once again a vocal point for football fans' attention, many people forget about great competitions around the world aimed at the biggest world talents as their preparation for superstardom continues.And this is exactly what is currently taking place in Korea, with the U17 World Cup in full flow already. It promises to be an entertaining competition (even though it's already nearing the end of the group stages), and there are simply no excuses when all the games are readily available, in English, on Fifa.com TV for free every morning on a live stream from the Far East.In regular articles from now until the climax of this tourney, I will keep you updated on how the four Arsenal representatives' progress in the competition, as well as any other highlights that I feel the need to mention along the way.

Fran Merida (Spain): Kicked off his campaign with a game against Honduras, who put up a suprising amount of resistance before succumbing to a 4-2 defeat at the hands of the Spaniards, with Merida playing slightly within himself to be honest, and was outshone by fellow superkid Bojan Krkic, but did stay on the pitch for the full 90 minutes in this match. Merida was however at the heart of a scrappy second goal for Spain, a savage striker by the Arsenal man spilled by the Honduran goalkeeper and falling to Jordi who did the rest.
But Merida, playing in the legendary No. 10 shirt for Spain, made up for his average performance in the previous game to help fire his team to victory against Syria in the following match, thus guaranteeing Spain's progress to the Last 16. For his goal he showed a good first touch and then pace as he recieved he ball on the right before cutting in and unleashing a powerful strike with his left foot which beat the goalkeeper at the near post. It was then Merida's through-ball that caught out the Syrian defence in injury time for Krkic to scamper away and set up Aquino to apply the finish. He impressed enough for Fifa to say this about him: Day five of Korea 2007 certainly belonged to the performances of a group of precociously gifted No10s. In the jersey current Valencia standout David Silva carried during the FIFA U-17 World Cup four years ago, Fran Merida netted Spain's opener in their 2-1 reverse of Syria. Nevertheless, it is Silva's Finland 2003 cohort Cesc Fabregas, ironically Merida's current club-mate at English giants Arsenal, who the creative midfielder most resembles in playing style.
In Spains final group game that they played yesterday, Fran Merida was rested along with fellow star player Bojan Krkic, and watched on from the bench as Spain salvaged a 1-1 draw with Argentina.

Gavin Hoyte, Henri Lansbury, Rhys Murphy (England): England kicked off their World Cup campaign against Korea DPR in a somewhat stuttering display in the blistering Korean heat. All three Arsenal players made appearances, with midfielder Henri Lansbury and striker Rhys Murphy starting the game, and Gavin Hoyte playing the last 19 minutes as a substitute. While all three were solid, none really impressed in this opening game, with Rhys Murphy probably being the stand out of the trio, the prolific striker holding the ball up well and having two chances of note. One, a header he was unable to keep down from a Nathan Porrit cross, and another a shot wide from a tight angle. Rhys Murphy managed to stay on the pitch for the whole game, while Henri Lansbury was replaced by Chelsea's Daniel Gosling with 6 minutes remaining.
England's second group game proved to be significantly easier, easy enough to give Henri Lansbury and Rhys Murphy a break from the side altogether as England made light work of scoring five past New Zealand. Once again Gavin Hoyte played his part from off the bench, replacing Krystian Pearce at centre back on 52 minutes. As you can imagine though, Gavin Hoyte had almost nothing to do of any real worth, a comfortable performance and that is all, and even filled in at left back towards the end of that match.
Gavin Hoyte managed to do enough in the previous match it seemed, as he was given the chance to impress against Brazil from the start in their final group match. Henri Lansbury was also recalled, which proved to be a very shrewd decision. This was a game where Lansbury showed off his clear potential, the midfielder going close with a shot that was turned away by the Brazilian goalkeeper. But his most influential moments were yet to come. Having been awarded a penalty, and with Rhys Murphy, England's regular penalty taker, still on the bench, Henri Lansbury stepped up to fill his clubmates boots, striking the penalty cleanly to the right to give England their equalising goal on the stroke of half time. And he wasn't finished yet either. Recieving the ball outside the box in injury time, he scuffed a shot/cross that was diverted into the net by skipper Jordan Spence to give England top spot in their group. Gavin Hoyte, however, didn't enjoy as good a game as his Arsenal team-mate, giving away a penalty in the 79th minute to Brazil. However, he was saved by a great stop by the England goalie from the spot kick that followed. Rhys Murphy was bought on late in the game to increase England's attacking threat, but had no real chances of note. And this is what Henri Lansbury had to say about the Brazil match:
"I don't normally take penalties, but I thought it's England v Brazil so I'll take it," recalled the talented midfielder. "I had to wait a bit which made me nervous. When I have taken penalties in the past I have always gone left, but I changed this time. My head just went - I just ran off. It was one of the greatest moments of my life."
"I spoke to my parents after the game," he added. "My mum said she couldn't watch and my dad thought I was going to miss."
"They (Brazil) had players everywhere," said Lansbury. "John (Peacock, England U17 coach) told us to play back but try to press when you have the chance. I thought we worked well as a three (man midfield)."


The next matches involving our young guns on international duty come on Thursday when a Spain side including Fran Merida attempt to beat Korea DPR for a place in the Quarter Finals. If they succeed, Tunisia or France await them. Meanwhile, the next day will pit England against Syria where Henri Lansbury, Gavin Hoyte and Rhys Murphy will attempt to get past Syria for a potential clash with Germany or USA in the Quarter Finals.

Fabregas clinches tight game for the Gunners

It looked to be another torturous performance from Arsenal, with constant movement and pretty passing, before making crucial mistakes just as you think that we'll score. There's not many more frustrating ways of spending a Saturday afternoon that I can think of at the moment.

I'm not sure what it is about our new stadium, but it seems to attract performances of the highest calibre from any visiting goalkeeper. There has been no better example of this than two weeks ago, with Warner playing the game of his life, before dropping two clangers in the next two games before being dropped ahead of Fulham's game yesterday. And in young Kasper Schemeical, this pattern continued.

As expected, Man City were defensive but looked to counter attack with pace, and as expected, their defence were excellent once again. And it took around 80 minutes before the break through finally came. Up to that point it was a game of a very familiar kind for Arsenal - pass....pass....pass....pass....shoot....miss, or alternatively pass....pass....pass....pass....pass....pass....intercepted. So easy on the eye, but sooo frustrating from a supporters point of view. We went close several times in the first half, the most prominent chance falling to Robin van Persie who was inches away from connecting with a wonderful ball across the box from Fabregas. Man City continued to look dangerous on the break though, and Petrov spurned a shot high and wide, with Elano also messing up a good opportunity. To make things even more frustrating for Arsenal, Wenger was forced to play a half-fit Gilberto at centre half to cover Senderos who injured himself in the warm-up, and Bacary Sagna also limped out of the game, with Denilson coming on in his place and Flamini moving to an unfamiliar right back position.

In the second half Man City had their first and only period of play where they could be said to have "dominated", Petrov again going close and Almunia smothering a shot one-on-one with Mpenza,, but after that mini rebellion had subsided, Arsenal stepped up once again. Fabregas had a swirling shot parried by Schemeical, before a penalty, which seems an inevitability with Arsenal's movement off the ball at home, was awarded for a mis-judged Micah Richards penalty. But Robin van Persie, frustrated for so long in the game, was denied once more by City's defence, with Schemeical pulling off a perfect imitation of his father to save the Dutchman's spot kick.

But Man City simply couldn't hold on against the wave after wave of Arsenal forays. Cesc Fabregas was the hero on this occasion, with his second goal in two games for Arsenal, with an excellently taken goal. Receiving the ball in the middle, he fed Hleb on the right before sneaking into the penalty box, receiving the return ball from Hleb and firing an unstoppable shot past Schemeical from a tight angle to give Arsenal the win. There was even time after the Spaniard's passionate badge-kissing celebration to almost get another goal to give emphasis to the scoreline, Eduardo feeding Rosicky, who cut in and powered a strike at goal which could only be parried by Schemeical into Hleb's path, but the Belorussian's follow up attempt going agonisingly wide off the far post. This was the sort of game last season that we drew too many of, so it was heartening to see us pull through in the end. A job well done for the Gunners then ahead of their formality of a tie against Sparta Prague on Wednesday, Arsenal holding a 2-0 aggregate lead that should make it easy.

Full Time: Arsenal 1 - 0 Man City

Player Ratings:

Manuel Almunia – 6.5 – Nothing much to do, but when called upon didn't make any mistakes.

Bacary Sagna - N/A - Unfortunate injury happened too early to judge his performance.

Gilberto Silva - 5 - Uncomfortable performance in his wrong position, when he was only half fit. Sums it up really.

Kolo Toure – 6.5 – Not too bad, nothing special either though. Decent without any noticeable mistakes.

Gael Clichy – 6 – Final pass or cross needs to be improved upon, and had a pretty restrained perfomance overrall

Alexander Hleb – 7.5 – Poor first half, but his second 45 minutes more than made up for it. He was at the heart of almost all Arsenal's most dangerous moments in the second half.

Mathieu Flamini - 6.5 - I like his spirit and tenacity, even if his positional awareness at right back is clearly lacking, and understandably so.

Cesc Fabregas – 7.5 – Like Hleb, didn't do much until the second half, but he is the heartbeat of the team which shows in his 64 passes during the match. His goal was very well taken also and was fittingly created by the teamwork of the two best players for Arsenal.

Tomas Rosicky – 6 – Some great moments, some poor moments, inconsistency costing him a much better rating. Never really know what you're going to get from him to be honest.

Emmanuel Adebayor – 5 – He wasn't fit enough to start the game in my opinion, and because his whole playing style centres on his tireless running, he really couldn't get going yesterday.

Robin van Persie – 5 – Poor by his standards, frustrated by the City defence for the most part. He only looked dangerous when he dropped off, but even then he was picked up by Hamann and was prevented from ever playing to his potential. A suprisingly poor spot kick as well.

Subs:

Eduardo – 6 – Solid in the short time he played. Suprised he didn't start ahead of the half-fit Adebayor.

Denilson – 6.5 – Did well in midfield, always composed and relaxed enough, but perhaps could have picked up Elano a bit better than he did.

Song - N/A - Not on the pitch for long enough.

Match Preview: Arsenal Vs Manchester City, Emirates Stadium

I for one am very excited about this game. It pits us against probably the most in form team in the Premiership at the moment, as the "new manager syndrome" helping to ensure that Man City got off to the very best possible start. It remains to be seen what sort of season they will have overrall, but confidence is high at Eastlands and they will provide a stern test for Arsenal this afternoon. In Sven's almost entirely new City team, there are a number of stand out players that Arsenal will have to combat to be able to come away with victory in my opinion. In Elano Blumer, they now have someone who is able to turn games with one moment of magic, and it'll be interesting whether or not Arsenal put anyone on him to do the same sort of job Gilberto does when he's in the side. I suspect Wenger won't man-mark him, which may leave Elano in enough space to do damage. And their other big player in my view, has undoubtedly got to be Micah Richards. I have been a massive fan of his for a while now, ever since he burst out on to the scene for Man City. He's dominant in the air, but as we never cross the ball above a height of three foot, that really isn't a huge problem. However, unlike many center backs he has enough pace to challenge all but the very fastest players at Arsenal, so he may just frustrate Arsenal today. Of course, Man City have other notable players now such as their right back Corluka, tricky winger Martin Petrov, and Geovanni, another dangerous attacking flair-player.

But of course, Arsenal definitely have more than their fair share of noteworthy players, and I would guess that we have enough talent in our ranks to be able to overwhelm City at home. Once again the biggest threat for Arsenal as far as goalscoring is concerned has to be Robin van Persie, as he looks to continue his record of scoring in each of Arsenal's opening EPL fixtures so far. Another key has to be the classy Cesc Fabregas, whose performance could be the difference between winning or losing. We rely on the 20 year old's telling through balls for much of our creative threat, so if he plays well, we'll more than likely win. Simple as that.

Injury news:

Arsenal: Captain William Gallas is set to be out for a while, with Eboue and Jens Lehmann joining him on the injured list for this game as well. However, Gilberto Silva is set for a return to the bench having been rested following captaining Brazil to Copa America victory in the summer. Meanwhile, Emmanuel Adebayor bolsters Arsenals striking options, returning from a groin injury.

Manchester City: Of Sven's summer spending spree, only Bojinov will be unable to play, having got an injury in the opening moments of Sundays clash with city rivals Man Utd.


My estimated line-ups:

Arsenal:
------------------------- Almunia -------------------------

Sagna ----------- Toure ----------- Senderos ------ Clichy

Hleb ------------ Flamini ---------- Fabregas ----- Rosicky

------------------ van Persie ------------------------------
--------------------------------- Adebayor ---------------


Manchester City:
------------------------- K Schmeichel -------------------------

Corluka ----------- Dunne ----------- Richards ------ Garrido

Geovanni ------------ Hamann ---------- Ireland ----- M Petrov

--------------------------- Elano --------------------------------
-------------------------- Bianchi -------------------------------

Match Prediction:

Arsenal 3-1 Manchester City *

I feel Arsenal may just have a little too much for a City side away from home, but it could just as easily be 1-0 to City or 1-1 if Arsenal get off to a sluggish start and struggle to open up Manchester City's defence.

* You'll soon realise that any predictions made in this blog are likely to be way off the mark.

Mad Jens out for City game

Some Arsenal fans may be rejoicing this weekend, even before we try and beat Man City on Saturday afternoon. The reason for this - the news that our half-crazed goalkeeper, the infamous Jens Lehmann, has been confirmed by Le Boss as being out for this weekends clash with Sven Goran Erikssons impressive City side.

“Jens is out and he will miss two weeks I think,” said Arsène Wenger on Thursday afternoon. “Maybe more - I don't know. He is going to see a specialist in Germany on Friday. He had this injury before but it has got much worse. "

And with the horror-show start to the season that Arsenal's erratic goalkeeper has had, Arsenal fans would be forgiven for thinking that dropping Lehmann was a must, but I have got to disagree. And that's not saying Jens is a good keeper, but unfortunately he's the best we have at the moment. Rumourings of moves for Craig Gordon, Scott Carson and Artur Boruc have all dwindled, with the first two having already got their summer moves, and with no sign of Boruc moving this summer from Glasgow. While we did bring in a new goalkeeper, I'm not entirely convinced he can do a job for us that is expected of a top four club for a season or so yet. "Wookash" Fabianski is highly rated but it's almost certainly too early to tell whether he can make it at Arsenal, and it would be a big gamble if he played on Saturday. Therefore the only real choice for Wenger to turn to is Manuel Almunia, who is almost as erratic as Lehmann, and not as brilliant as Lehmann at his best. If Almunia and Lehmann were fizzy drinks, Manuel would have to be called "Lehmann Lite". Not quite as powerful or strong as Lehmann, and just isn't as good as the real thing. But isn't as likely to explode either.....
As for other injury news, there are another two casualties at the moment, with another having recovered in time to play Man City.

"William Gallas is out and will be out for some time,” said the manager. “Emmanuel Eboue is out too. But Emmanuel Adebayor is back."

While the news of Gallas' injury is a blow to Arsenal, Eboue's absence hurts us less now that summer arrival Bacary Sagna seems to have fitted in instantly during pre-season and the start of the season so far. He doesn't go forward as well as Eboue, but is significantly better at defending to make up for that. He's not really an exicting player, but you can depend on him to do exactly what you want him to do, no more, no less. Meanwhile, the news of Adebayor's recovery can only be positive news. The Togolese forward gives his all for Arsenal, and his tireless running opens up spaces for those who are most dangerous such as Robin van Persie and Cesc Fabregas.