Reserves suffer defeat to West Ham

Arsenal Reserves suffered their third defeat of the season this evening after they went down to a West Ham side packed with first-team experience.

Neil Banfield made several changes from the victory over Stoke with Abu Ogogo and Paul Rodgers returning from unsuccessful trials at Nottingham Forest. There was better luck for James Dunne, however, and he has now completed his move to Forest.

————–Mannone——————-

—Ogogo—Hoyte———-Rodgers—Steer

—Coquelin-Randall———Bischoff—Merida

———–Simpson——–Murphy———–

It was Arsenal who started the brightest with Rhys Murphy looking lively up front on his first start of the season. However, it was the Hammers who took the lead through Junior Stanislas on 24 minutes.

With the Gunners lacking a cutting edge up front, Gilles Sunu was introduced to the fray. The Frenchman hit a brace for the under-18s in a 3-2 win over Norwich on Saturday. Jay Emmanuel-Thomas also marked his return from international duty by replacing Rene Steer.

Fran Mérida was Arsenal’s most threatening player whilst going forward but struggled to beat Lastuvka. On the positive side, Amaury Bischoff completed his first 90 minutes in Arsenal shirt.

The Hammers held on for the victory and it was another frustrating performance from Neil Banfield’s side. However, inconsistency has to be expected at this level especially with so many changes to the side. The Gunners now face three successive home fixtures against Fulham, Tottenham and Portsmouth and Banfield will no doubt be looking for an improvement from his side before the year is out.