Arsenal under-21s will return to action for the first time in nearly two months on Friday as they take on Stoke City at Borehamwood’s Meadow Park.
Arsenal lay 4th in the Barclays U21 Premier League, but due to various international tournaments and postponements the Gunners have played at least three games less than every other team in the league. In fact, Arsenal have won all of their opening five games, scoring 14 goals in the process.
Dutch striker Donyell Malen, a summer signing from Ajax, will be on the bench after earning his first call to the under-21s. Malen scored a hat-trick for the under-18s recently against Reading, and will be hoping to continue his good form at a higher level. Another player who could make his under-21 debut could be Jordi Osei-Tutu, who will be looking to take advantage of Tafari Moore’s continued injury problems to nail down a place in the starting eleven at right-back.
Alongside Osei-Tutu will be the consistent centre-back partnership of Julio Pleguezelo and Krystian Bielik. The former has enjoyed a hugely impressive start to the season after recovering from a series of injuries, including a brace against Olympiacos in the UEFA Youth League, and has even taken on the responsibility of the captain’s armband.
In their last game back in September, Arsenal produced an impressive display to win 3-2 away to Wolves with Chris Willock, Stephy Mavididi and Alex Iwobi on target. However, since that match, Daniel Crowley has returned from his loan spell at Barnsley and Jeff Reine-Adelaide from the under-17 World Cup in Chile. Between Willock, Mavididi, Iwobi, Crowley, Reine-Adelaide and Kaylen Hinds, the Gunners have an embarrassment of riches going forward and can score goals whoever they are playing against.
While Arsenal may have made an excellent start to the season, the same cannot be said for Stoke, who have lost six of their opening nine games this season. When these two sides met in this fixture last season, Alex Iwobi hit a hat-trick as Arsenal ran out 4-1 winners. Given the form of the two teams, this game could well end with a similar result.
