Danny Welbeck played for an hour on his comeback from injury as Arsenal under-21’s convincingly beat Brighton on Friday at London Colney. It was, however, but it was 16-year-old Reiss Nelson who stole the show for the Gunners.
The youngster scored one and set up two more as Arsenal went 3-0 up in the opening 20 minutes, and will hope to keep his place when the likes of Dan Crowley, Ben Sheaf and Jeff Reine-Adelaide return to the side.
With just two minutes on the clock, Arsenal took the lead with the help of some wretched defending. Centre back Tom Dallison failed to deal with a simple ball forward, allowing Nelson to nip the ball off his toes and coolly fire past the helpless Christian Walton for his first goal at under-21 level.
Twitter: Dat Guy Welbz IS BACK! #afc https://t.co/tPDNSlhAak (@ReadArsenalFC)
Arsenal were in rampant mood, and quickly doubled their lead with the simplest of goals. Nelson delivered a simple corner to the near post and there was Kristian Bielik – signed from Legia Warsaw last January – to power in a header for his first Arsenal goal at any level.
Steve Gatting’s side stretched their lead further after 17 minutes, and again Nelson was heavily involved. Under no pressure, Brighton’s Dessie Hutchinson gave the ball straight to Nelson in a dangerous position and his clever pass played in Stephy Mavididi, who finished with the air of a striker right in form after his brace at Stoke last week.
It could easily have been four when Welbeck showed a terrific turn of pace to breeze past his marker on the left-hand side only to see his shot drift inches wide of the far post, but then at the other end, Kristopher Da Graca needlessly pushed Jonah Ayunga to the ground under the ball to give Brighton the chance to pull one back from the penalty spot before half-time. However, Matt Macey made a fine save diving to his left from Jack Harper (formerly of Real Madrid) before the Brighton man blazed the rebound well over the crossbar.
The second half was far less frenetic, with Da Graca’s effort from a corner the only real chance until Mavididi was fouled just outside the area to give Arsenal a free-kick in a dangerous position. Summer signing Ismael Bennacer stepped up to take and bent it beautifully over the wall and into the corner to make it 4-0. Brighton did get a consolation late on when Marcus McGuane fouled Dylan Barnett just inside the penalty area. Ryan Huddart replaced Macey at half time due to a minor injury, but the substitute was unable to replicate Macey’s heroics from the first half as James Tilley scored convincingly.
The win means that Arsenal move top of the table, with games in hand on the teams immediately below them.
