Exclusive- Goalkeepers Charlie Mann and Luke Chambers to make debuts against Norwich tomorrow

Schoolboy goalkeeper Charlie Mann will make his debut for Arsenal u-18s against Norwich at London Colney tomorrow morning after regular ‘keeper James Shea picked up a shoulder injury in the FA Youth Cup victory over Aston Villa in midweek. Mann has been on the bench for four Premier Academy League games this season, including the reverse fixture against the Canaries. With Wojciech Szczesny out injured, Mann could also be on the bench for Tuesday’s Reserve game with Portsmouth at Underhill.

Mann usually plays for the u-16s and his absence will mean a debut for 15 year-old stopper Luke Chambers, who joined the Gunners in the summer from Derby County. Chambers is very highly-rated and turned down approaches from Everton, Man.Utd and Aston Villa to sign for Arsenal.

In other news, Oguzhan Ozyakup and Benik Afobe are also likely to start for the u-18s tomorrow, which means that the u-16s could adopt a 4-5-1 formation with Zack Ansah playing as a lone striker.

Match preview- Arsenal U18s v Norwich U18s

Arsenal u-18s will look to build upon their FA Youth Cup exploits when they welcome their Norwich counterparts to London Colney tomorrow- and go into the Winter break on a high.

Following the Villa game, Steve Bould’s side are now unbeaten in eight games in all competition and should extend it further against the Canaries. Having said that, when these two sides last met in October, the Gunners edged a 3-2 victory and last season were held to a 0-0 draw.

The results have been good for Arsenal this campaign but they haven’t always had the performances to match- an example of which is last week’s game against Charlton, where the Gunners won 3-1 but failed to play convincingly.

In team news, Conor Henderson (ligament damage) is the only absentee, but midfielders Henri Lansbury and Francis Coquelin could be rested ahead of the Reserve game with Portsmouth on Tuesday. That means that either Sam Byles or Oguzhan Ozyakup could partner Emmanuel Frimpong in central midfield. Centre-backs Luke Ayling and Kyle Bartley will know that a good performance could see them start against Pompey.

Predicted team:

—————————————–Shea—————————

——Eastmond—–Bartley———————–Ayling———-Cruise

——Sunu————Byles————————-Frimpong——Thomas (c)

————————–Murphy———————Deacon————————

subs: Watt, Freeman, Evina, Blackwood, Rasmussen.

Tomorrow’s game kicks off at 11AM and a match report will be available later in the day.

P.S.- Could somebody please tell me who scored the brace when Arsenal played Norwich away in October. Arsenal reports say that Murphy scored two whilst Sunu scored one whilst I have read other accounts which suggest the opposite. Thank you.