Loan watch: Victories for Simpson and Gibbs, Randall loses

Seven young Arsenal players are on loan at other clubs in order to gain experience. They are Mark Randall and Kieran Gibbs, who are at Burnley and Norwich respictively, Jay Simpson is with Millwall whilst Fran Merida, Carlos Vela and Pedro Silva are all in Spain with Real Sociedad, Osasuna and Salamanca. Vincent van den Berg is with Go Ahead Eagles. Keep up to date on their progress here…

Mark Randall- Plymouth 3 Burnley 1

Mark came on with four minutes left for Burnley against Plymouth, replacing Chris McCann. Plymouth went in front through Lilian Nallis on 12 minutes, but Burnley equalised thanks to a James O’Connor strike seven minutes later. A Peter Halmosi strike on 35 minutes restored the home side’s lead. Halmosi struck again 14 minutes from time to seal the win for Plymouth.

Kieran Gibbs- Norwich 1 Barnsley 0

Kieran played the whole game for Norwich against Barnsley at Carrow Road. Norwich went ahead through Jamie Cureton on 26 minutes.

Jay Simpson- Millwall 3 Port Vale 0

Jay played 77 minutes for Millwall against Port Vale, whilst ex-Gunner Ryan Smith was on the bench. Millwall went ahead through Lewis Grabban on 18 minutes. Marc Laird doubled the Lions advantage just before the interval. The game was put beyond doubt when David Martin struck on 68 minutes. Simpson made some good runs but seemed a little isolated on the flank. He was replaced by Ahmet Berkovic with 13 minutes remaining. Read a match report here

Fran Merida- Elche v Real Sociedad

Fran remains commited to the cause at Real Sociedad but has been frustrated due to his lack of games recently. He should be on the bench against Elche.

Carlos Vela- Osasuna v Atletico Madrid

Carlos should start against Atletico Madrid as he looks to get back amongst the goals.

Pedro- Salamanca v Tenerife

Pedro is injured and is unlikely to feature for Salamanca against Tenerife.

Vincent van den Berg- Go Ahead Eagles

Vincent scored on his return in a reserve match, but is unlikely to feature this weekend.

 

This is who Wenger was talking about

We have two Under-14s players I watched play and technically they have nothing to learn.

  Remember those words from Arsene Wenger ahead of the Birmingham game last month? Since then, there has been much speculation over who the two youngsters could be. One site speculated that u-16s players Benik Afobe and Chucks Aneke were the players Wenger was referring to. However, we can exclusively reveal that one of the youngsters is Zac Ansak (circled, pictured here with the Arsenal u-10s side in 2003). He has been at Arsenal since the age of nine and is highly regarded by the Hale End coaching staff. He will hope to push on to the u-16s next season. As for the other youngster, well there’s no confirmation but there’s a rumour it could be Anton Morgan.

   On another note, I wish Eduardo well after the injury he picked up against Birmingham today. The pictures were truly disturbing and Sky wouldn’t even show the replay again. It makes you stop and think about things when something like that happens.

 

Miquel signed, Veloso to join him?

   Veloso: Next in line?

It appears that the signing of young Cornella left-back Ignasi Miquel has been completed, remember we broke the news here first on Wednesday that Arsenal were interested in him before the news was picked up by other sites. He certainly seems a decent prospect and will look to get his fair share of u-18 games next season. 

Arsenal have also been linked to Sporting Lisbon defender Miguel Veloso, but will face competition from Man.Utd and Fiorentina. It seems we’re very keen on signing defenders which means that quite a few of the current crop could be released in the summer.

  Fran Merida says that he’s not thinking about Arsenal at the moment and that he’s fully committed to playing for Real Sociedad at the moment. He is still likely to return to Arsenal in the summer though and hopefully he can make the first-team breakthrough next season. Which brings us to this weekend’s loanees preview.

LOANEES PREVIEW

Mark Randall- Plymouth v Burnley

Burnley return to competitive action this week as they take on Plymouth. Mark is still waiting for his first competitive start for the Clarets and is likely to be on the bench this afternoon.

Kieran Gibbs- Norwich v Barnsley

Kieran has failed to impress Norwich fans in the short time that he’s been there- but he hasn’t been given a chance! Hopefully he’ll prove them wrong today, although he may have to settle for a place on the bench.

Jay Simpson- Millwall v Port Vale

Jay is now an integral part of the Millwall side, but the Lions need to start picking up points quickly if they don’t want to fall back into the relegation zone.

Fran Merida- Elche v Real Sociedad

Fran remains commited to the cause at Real Sociedad but has been frustrated due to his lack of games recently. He should be on the bench against Elche.

Carlos Vela- Osasuna v Atletico Madrid

Carlos should start against Atletico Madrid as he looks to get back amongst the goals.

Pedro- Salamanca v Tenerife

Pedro is injured and is unlikely to feature for Salamanca against Tenerife.

Vincent van den Berg- Go Ahead Eagles

Vincent scored on his return in a reserve match, but is unlikely to feature this weekend.