U18 Premier League

Tottenham Hotspur 4 Arsenal 1 (Mourgos)

Arsenal U18s continued their wretched season with a 4-1 defeat away to arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur this morning.

Coach Frans De Kat was without the entire starting line-up from Monday’s FA Youth Cup loss to Crewe Alexandra, whilst Tafari Moore, Julio Pleguezuelo, Kaylen Hinds, Chiori Johnson and Jonatas Centeno were all missing through injury.

Nonetheless, it was another hugely disappointing outcome for Arsenal, who slipped to their tenth defeat in 20 league games so far this season. The youngsters have won just five league games this campaign, with this latest aberration seeing their goal difference fall to -9.

De Kat named a similar side to the one that lost out to West Bromwich Albion last weekend, with the only change seeing Marc Bola, who impressed as a substitute against Crewe, come into the side in place of Owen Moore.

Huddart

Wright-Da Graca-M. Bola-Chatzitheodoridis

Sheaf-Donovan

Tella-Mourgos-Nketiah

Da Silva

subs: Huddart, O. Moore, Gilmour, Nelson.

Shayon Harrison was the hat-trick hero for the hosts as he got the better of Hugo Keto on three occasions before the fifty minute mark.

The opening goal came when the dangerous Ismail Azzaoui was fouled in the area by Keto, with Harrison confidently converting the subsequent spot-kick.

Harrison doubled his tally, and that of his club, just eleven minutes later when he latched onto Joe Muscatt’s throw and finished adroitly.

The damage could have been far greater before the break had Zenon Stylianides not shot over and Keto not redeemed himself somewhat with a good save from Luke Amos.

It was 3-0 shortly after the interval, however, after Harrison completed his hat-trick with a fine finish following yet more good work from Azzaoui.

Arsenal were provided with a glimmer of hope of mounting a comeback when Savvas Mourgos scored his second goal in as many games after he weaved his way past several defenders before finding the net.

Tottenham would make it 4-1, though, after Harry Donovan was adjudged to have fouled Ryan Loft in the area. Loft took the penalty himself and dispatched it past Keto to confirm the victory.

Arsenal’s remaining two fixtures in this section are at home to Norwich City and away to Leicester. De Kat may well be able to call upon a slightly stronger line-up for those games but, as long as the bad results continue, questions will continue to be asked regarding the capabilities of the club’s youth set-up.