U21 Premier League
Arsenal 3 (Watt 44 (pen), 87 (pen), Ebecilio (90) Everton 0
By Jeorge Bird @ Underhill
Another game, three more goals, a clean sheet and another victory; it seems Terry Burton’s Arsenal U21 side can do little wrong at the moment as they maintained their perfect start to the new season with a well-earned dispatch of Everton at Underhill.
In truth, it was not a vintage performance from the young Gunners, but they still prevailed thanks to a penalty late in either half from Sanchez Watt, five years to the day since his first appearance on this ground, before substitute Kyle Ebecilio added gloss to the scoreline with his first goal at this level at the death.
Burton was deprived of Conor Henderson and Chuba Akpom because of international duty, whilst Serge Gnabry and Jon Toral didn’t feature, perhaps with the NextGen Series in mind, but Arsenal’s side, whilst still missing the suspended Damian Martinez, was still strong, with Ignasi Miquel, Craig Eastmond, Nico Yennaris, Chuks Aneke and Watt all possessing senior appearances for the club under their belts.
The Everton team-sheet contained some familiar names, too. Not least Ross Barkley, the much-heralded midfielder who has been capped by England up to U21 level, as well as Luke Garbutt, Hallam Hope and first-team squad member Magaye Gueye.
Indeed, it was the visitors, who had won 2-0 here in the final fixture of the old Reserve league season back in May, who carved out the majority of the early chances, without really troubling James Shea in the Arsenal goal. After a scrappy opening ten minutes, John Lundstram alleviated the boredom with an ambitious long range effort that went well wide, then Gueye struck a free-kick just wide following a clumsy foul by Eastmond.
The quality of the early stages of the game was rather summed up, though, by George Green’s horribly hashed effort which eventually trickled out for a throw. To be fair to Green, though, he represented Everton’s most dangerous threat and would cause several problems for the Arsenal defence throughout the evening.
Arsenal’s first chance was also poorly executed, with Thomas Eisfeld’s weak free-kick easily gathered by Mateusz Taudul, but Watt, given his relative experience at this level, really should have done better than his skewed effort wide when Yennaris led a charge down field shortly afterwards.
Shea then had to be alert when Jordan Hammer hammered a shot at goal from close range, then Green cut inside Martin Angha on Everton’s right flank before curling an attempt wide. Arsenal then came close for the first time with Aneke’s well-struck free-kick whistling past the near post, then a neat passing move culminated in the overlapping Angha shooting wide.
Aneke then had another free-kick well gathered, but there would be a significant event just prior to half-time when Eastmond’s clever pass found Yennaris, who in turn slotted in Meade, and the diminutive youngster, operating on the left flank, was brought down for a penalty, just as he was in the opening game of the season against Bolton.
Watt stepped up and converted confidently, a trait belying his overall performance, but Arsenal went into the break happiest following an opening period in which neither side can claim to have been at their imperious best.
The Gunners did improve after the interval, though, and began to take the game to Everton with more regularity. Aneke, who frequently interchanged between the deeper and more advanced central midfield roles, headed over from Angha’s cross, before later spraying a superb cross-field pass into the path of Meade, who, operating in his old position on the left wing, controlled well but could only direct his effort against the far post.
A surging run from Hector Bellerin resulted in Watt having an effort tipped wide, before Eastmond threaded through Watt, whose shot was diverted from a corner. The set-piece routine eventually saw the ball fall to Eisfeld, whose effort couldn’t escape a crowd of blue shirts.
Ebecilio then replaced the tiring Eisfeld and the Dutchman would have a major impact on proceedings with the third goal, but, before then, Shea had to make another impressive save to deny Green, whilst a lung-busting run from Meade did not have the end product to match.
A seemingly justifiable penalty claim from the visitors was turned down when Bellerin bundled over Hope in the area, but any hope that Everton had of taking something from this game soon dissipated when Meade continued his uncanny knack of winning spot-kicks by being felled by Taudul in the area.
Watt stepped up once again, and scored again, to take his tally to three goals in two games at this level this season. The final word, though, would belong to Ebecilio, who emphatically finished off a neat passing move to further embellish the scoreline.
Player ratings
James Shea-7- Not readily called upon, but did what he had to do, including an impressive save to deny Green.
Hector Bellerin-8- Is improving steadily in his defensive work and a regular threat going forward.
Elton Monteiro-7- Is beginning to develop some welcome consistency in his game, and delivered another assuring performance.
Ignasi Miquel-7- Again led the side well and made several impressive interventions.
Martin Angha-6- Raided forward from left-back, as is his wont, and wasn’t beaten too many times defensively.
Craig Eastmond-6- Recovered well from a sloppy start to produce several key passes in the second period.
Nico Yennaris-7- Typically tigerish, he never gives up and also demonstrated his impressive technique.
Thomas Eisfeld-6- Not heavily involved, but did display some glimpses of his quality with some good runs.
Chuks Aneke-7- Flitted between the various midfield roles and was at the hub of most of Arsenal’s forward movements.
Jernade Meade-7- A useful outlet in his old position even if finishing was a little rusty.
Sanchez Watt-6- Fed off scraps for most of the game but converted his penalties well.
subs:
Kyle Ebecilio (for Eisfeld, 58)- 7- Looked lively upon his introduction and scored an impressive goal.
Not used: Josh Vickers, Samir Bihmoutine, Kristoffer Olsson, Nigel Neita.
Jeorge Bird's Arsenal Youth 
Jeorge how close was we from getting Raheem Stirling before he went to Liverpool. I heard he spent the day at London Colney and even trained with the U18s and Liam Brady was confident of landing him, is any of this info true?
Joerge,
A ‘6’ rating after a brace…really? Surely, even if from the penalty spot, 2 goals deserves at leasst ‘7’, no…?
If you saw the game then you will have noticed that his overall performance left a lot to be desired. He took his penalties well, but there was a real lack of movement and sharpness in his display.
Have to agree, For a senior player he was going through the motions and doing himeself no favours. I would expect him to be busting a gut to impress but it never happend.
great that watt scored twice and nothing against him personally but why is he being played?
he is allowed to leave if someone want him.
he has been deemed by the club as expendable so if this is the case why are we playing him?
we could be developing another player instead.
chamakh can’t even score in reserves. the question should be:
why is he not being given a chance in the first team? we don’t have enough strikers to cover. at least few games till the next january window.
bartley, lansbury out but squillaci is still our player.
sanchez watt might not be thierry henry but his work rate could contribute to the first team. well, he’s not french
Chamakh …. couple of reasons –
1) He’s not U21
2) He thinks he’s a striker but that is debateable.
We cannot give him away, very poor acquisition.
Putting him in the shop window for clubs to look at would be my guess.
Perhaps to try and help him getaway.
Grinded the result but pace of the game was so slow. Higher tempo is needed.
Need to move the ball quicker, Eastmond and Yennaris in midfield did very well.
Aneke kept dropping back into midfield instead of staying up front and offering more options with Watt. Angha needs to use his left foot, playing him left back make him very predictable. Monteiro had a good game at the back. Meades running into spaces resulted in 2 penalties being awarded , the first from Yennaris’ pass.
Need to do more if they are looking to impress the boss and push for that step up into first team.
Angha is right sided player only playing left back at the moment, so there’s good competition within Bellerin and Angha, both needs games, so had to play out of position
Craig Eastmond was the MOTM tbh
Goodness me, I’m quite confident most of us here could tuck away a couple of penalties in a Reserve league match. It doesn’t say anything about Watt’s ability. He had to go down to League Two last season to get game time, on what planet is he better than Chamakh or Bendtner or Park? All of whom have 50+ caps for their countries and are quite comfortably top level players, just not at Arsenal.
Watt could score five hat-tricks in a row…he would still be in the same place. Kicking his heels in the reserves. He’s just waiting for another club to buy him, so he can pay off the Tipperary training mafia. Eastmond played very well, Aneke – very controlled in when he supported the attack. I can feel the wand of Wenger looking to convert him to a DM, next it will be Afobe as a RB. I fear the Hale End trainees better look on to other teams like Palace, Milwall so they can get game time.
I hope for your parents’ sake you’re just trolling for a reaction.
I am entitled to my own opinion, just like you can express yourself. If you do not value dissension, I hear there’s space in Pyongyang!