With the under-18s Academy League coming to a conclusion in the next few weeks, Arsenal are currently two points behind leaders West Ham with two games in hand. The Gunners face MK Dons on Saturday, before rounding off the league campaign with games against Millwall, Bristol City and Fulham. In order to secure a play-off place, the Gunners need to finish above West Ham to secure a play-off place. However, the Gunners may have just done the Hammers a big favour as they have allowed Saudi Arabian schoolboy striker to join the East London outfit on a two week trial. Abdulla has made four appearances for Arsenal under-18s this season, and was expected to sign a scholarship in the summer. However, with the high-profile signing of Luke Freeman from Gillingham in January, he stalled on contract talks and has been looking for other offers. He obviously wanted to leave, and Arsenal were right to let him do so (albeit only on trial) but they could have done better than let him join our closest title challengers, even if it is only for two weeks. Why not let him go to another club where he’s still going to play games but wouldn’t affect our title challenge. It looks as if he’s impressing the West Ham staff as well, and he was on target in a 4-1 victory over Reading last weekend. The Hammers have two remaining fixtures. First, they face Leicester City away on Saturday, before finishing with a home game against Birmingham. You can read a full preview of the Arsenal v MK Dons fixture here on Friday.
In other news, we have been linked to Brazilian youngster Patrik. We had him on trial before and he is still only 17, so we will have to wait and see what happens.
Finally, it is one year today since Arsenal’s FA Youth Cup run ended with a 4-2 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford. I remember that game well and Rhys Murphy looked to have won it in extra time, but it wasn’t to be.
Thanks for reading and there will be more tomorrow.
