Reserves lose to Hammers in five goal thriller as Miquel and Henderson join first-team squad

Arsenal Reserves lost out 3-2 to their West Ham counterparts in an entertaining encounter at Bishops’ Stortford this evening. Dylan Tombides scored twice for the Hammers, in between which Zavon Hines found the net. Sead Hajrovic and Rhys Murphy were on target for a young Arsenal side.

James Shea, who is currently on loan at Southampton but still able to play for Arsenal under the terms of his youth loan, came in for the injured Damian Martinez in goal, whilst Kyle Ebecilio joined Oguzhan Ozyakup to form an all-Dutch holding-midfield partnership. George Brislen-Hall kept his place at left-back despite being told that he will be released in the summer, whilst there was once again a very youthful look to the bench, with all of the outfield players being first-years.

Shea

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Ozyakup-Ebecilio

Deacon-Aneke-Freeman

Murphy

subs: McDermott, Angha, Webb, Rees, Ansah.

Arsenal almost got off to the perfect start, with Roarie Deacon forcing a clever save from West Ham goalkeeper Ruud Boffin. The Hammers responded almost instantly with a couple of chances of their own, both of which fell to Luis Boa Morte, the former Arsenal player, but he failed to convert on both occasions.

Boa Morte did not give up at that, though, with his cross finding Dylan Tombides who slotted past Shea to open the scoring after ten minutes. That Tombides was allowed so much space owed largely to the gaping space left by Brislen-Hall after he had conceded the initial free-kick.

A quiet spell ensued in the direct aftermath of the goal, with Radoslav Kovac volleying wildly over, but Arsenal did show some signs of improvement after going behind, and they got their reward through an incredibly rare goal from Sead Hajrovic. It stemmed from another delivery from Ozyakup, whose corner ricocheted to Hajrovic, who hit a looping, deflected effort over Boffin, who wasn’t quite so intelligent on this occasion.

Soon after, Luke Freeman had a seemingly legitimate penalty claim turned down. At that point, it seemed that the Gunners were in the ascendancy, but they were only level for eleven minutes before Julien Faubert, who was sent off in the corresponding fixture at London Colney earlier this season, crossed for the lively Zavon Hines to head past Shea.

Shea then had to be alert to keep out a Barrera free-kick, before West Ham extended their lead further, with the same combination of Boa Morte and Tombides linking up again, with the latter beating Shea with a bullet header.

Arsenal made a double change at the interval, with Martin Angha and Josh Rees on for Hajrovic and Daniel Boateng. West Ham’s rhythm was unsettled by the break, however, with Boa Morte drilling a forceful effort wide.

Just when the game seemed as if it was going to be beyond Arsenal, a piece of instinctive genius from Rhys Murphy reduced the deficit. Freeman capitalised on a loose ball from Jordan Spence and threaded the ball through to Murphy, who somehow managed to lift the ball over Boffin, despite the goalkeeper being barely off his line.

The Gunners could not afford to rest on their laurels, however, with Tombides rattling Shea’s post shortly afterwards, whilst Cruise and then Rees had to be alert defensively.

Arsenal made a final substitution, with Callum Webb replacing the tiring Aneke, whilst Montano for West Ham and Deacon for Arsenal had late chances to find the net,

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Reserve team players Ignasi Miquel and Conor Henderson are likely to be in the squad for tomorrow night’s FA Cup Fifth Round replay against Leyton Orient at Emirates Stadium. The pair, along with Oguzhan Ozyakup, Sead Hajrovic and Chuks Aneke, trained with the first-team at London Colney this morning, with Miquel and Henderson purposefully left out of the Reserve game this evening.

 

Arsenal are without several key players due to injury. Lukasz Fabianski, Theo Walcott, Cesc Fabregas, Thomas Vermaelen, Robin van Persie and Laurent Koscielny are all sidelined, whilst Aaron Ramsey is ineligible as he was on loan at Cardiff City when the original fixture against Orient was played.

 

Almunia

Eboue-Djourou-Squillaci-Gibbs

Diaby-Denilson

Bendtner-Rosicky-Arshavin

Chamakh

Subs: Szczesny, Sagna, Clichy, Wilshere, Nasri, Miquel, Henderson.