On Friday evening, Arsenal’s U21 side faced and defeated London rivals West Ham United by five goals to nil.
The Gunners started slowly, with West Ham dominating the opening 10 minutes, but an impressive performance followed as the north London side settled into the game, and after a quarter of an hour, Kaylen Hinds opened the scoring with his deflected effort rebounding back into his path, before comfortably slotting the ball past the hapless Sam Howes with his left foot.
A minute later and it was two, as the impressive Stephy Mavididi nodded home a looping cross from Jeff Reine-Adelaide, after some good work on the left-hand side by the Frenchman.
The rest of the first half was comfortable for the Arsenal youngsters, with no real threat from the Hammers meaning that the likes of Reine-Adelaide and Alex Iwobi were allowed to constantly switch flanks and toy with the opposition sides full backs, who had a torrid evening dealing with the sharp Gunners front line.
Soon after the second half began, Arsenal were three goals to the good and cruising, as a mistake from the away side saw Stephy Mavididi gifted with a chance on goal, which he took with open arms to double his tally.
Perhaps the most impressive performer on the night was Glen Kamara, who scored Arsenal’s fourth after some intricate play and a one-two which saw him put through on goal, finishing nicely just before the hour mark, allowing the home side to go into cruise control.
The Finland youth international marshalled the midfield all evening – dominating, tenacious and quick without the ball in the defensive midfield area, but when on the ball was able to really show off his footballing ability and eye for a pass.
Being two-footed is a tough ask of any footballer, but Kamara looked comfortable on both feet, whilst being impressive in his athleticism and in years to come could turn out to be extremely important to the currently frail senior side’s midfield.
At only 19-years-old, Kamara is yet to feature for the Gunners on a senior level, but if he continues to play the way he did on Friday evening, he will no doubt catch the eye of Arsene Wenger, who has close ties with U21s boss Steve Gatting.
Late into the game, the Gunners faithful had the chance to see what new signing Ismael Bennacer had to offer, as he slotted in comfortably to the compact Arsenal midfield and had a few tidy touches with what looks a wand of a left foot.
Arsenal were comfortable at the back, with Julio Pleguezuelo captaining the side at the heart of the defence alongside talented 17-year-old Krystian Bielik, who was initially signed as a holding midfielder, but looks to be used in a more defensive role than first thought – whether that is to work up his defensive abilities or because of his giant figure at 6’2 making him more sorted to the role is something that we will find out in years to come.
It took Arsenal until the 89th minute to score the fifth of the game, with substitute Chris Willock being brought down in the penalty area, which Ben Sheaf stepped up to and converted comfortably to bring an end to proceedings at the Emirates.
