Match Report: Norwich U18s 2-3 Arsenal U18s
Vlad Dragomir scored his first Arsenal goal as the U18s came from behind to win 3-2 away at Norwich on Saturday.
Arsenal made four changes to the team that beat Reading last week; out went Chatzitheodoridis, Tella, Nelson and DaSilva with Kostas Pileas, Tyrell Robinson, Savvas Mourgos and Eddie Nketiah coming into the team in their place.
Norwich were beaten 7-0 at Chelsea in their last outing, and it looked like a similar story might unfold here as Arsenal took the lead with less than ten minutes gone. Nketiah has been in excellent form this season, and he added another goal to his tally when he collected Pileas’ pass on the edge of the area, showed quick feet to make some space and then fired low into the bottom corner.
However, after the goal Norwich took charge of the game and were deservedly in front by half time. They could have equalised when Kristopher Da Graca gave the ball away on the edge of his own penalty area but Ryan Huddart made a spectacular double save to spare his centre-back’s blushes.
Nonetheless, Norwich did equalise with ten minutes left in the half when Marcus Tabi’s poor touch in midfield put Norwich on the attack and Diallang Jaiyesimi’s shot found the net via a slight deflection off Da Graca. A few minutes later, Arsenal were behind as Devonte Aransibia managed to squeeze a shot through the body of Huddart.
It could easily have been 3-1 early in the second half when George Couzens was unlucky to see a goal chalked off for offside as he tucked in a rebound, and Arsenal took full advantage of their lucky escape to draw level midway through the second half. Vlad Dragomir had been on international duty with the Romania U17s over the past few weeks but he returned in style as he picked up the ball in space 20 yards out and arrowed a fierce strike into the back of the net, perhaps with a small deflection on the way.
Arsenal found themselves in front just five minutes later when Yassin Fortune dribbled past his man on the left edge of the penalty area and drove in a low shot to score the eventual winner. Robinson should have wrapped up the win late on from a quick breakaway but somehow contrived to shoot well over from just six yards out.
Next up for Arsenal is a home game against 10th placed Brighton this Saturday.