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.