**Premier League 2**
**Liverpool 7 (Morrison 4, 52, 55, Pilling 6, Nallo 31, Wright 39, Figueroa 71 (pen.) Arsenal 0**
Image: Arsenal
Arsenal U21s suffered their heaviest defeat in Premier League 2 history as they were thrashed 7-0 away to Liverpool today.
There were some mitigating circumstances, with some players such as Ife Ibrahim and Jack Porter unavailable after featuring for the U18s in the FA Youth Cup last night, but it was still a hugely disappointing defeat.
Arsenal gave starts to schoolboy midfielders Mishel Nduka and Emerson Nwaneri, with the latter becoming the club’s youngest ever stater in Premier League 2 aged 15 years and 152 days, beating the record that was set by his brother Ethan.
There were further debuts in the second half with schoolboy Angleinou Pedro and first year scholar Saurap Sampang featuring but it was another deeply frustrating occasion for the Arsenal academy.
Remy Mitchell made his first start of the season in goal, while Brayden Clarke was given the captain’s armband following Louie Copley’s departure on loan.
Seb Ferdinand, who usually plays as a winger, started in midfield with Charles Sagoe Jr up front.
**Mitchell**
**Nichols-Clarke-Sweet-Washington**
**Ferdinand**
**Nduka-Emerson Nwaneri**
**Kamara-Sagoe Jr-Stevens**
**Subs: Pedro (for Stevens, 46), Hashi (for Emerson Nwaneri, 75), Oyetunde (for Kamara, 75), Sampang (for Sweet, 79). Not used: Talbot.**
Liverpool set the tone immediately, with Kieran Morrison scoring after just four minutes before Tommy Pilling made it 2-0 two minutes later.
Just after the half hour mark Amara Nallo added a third and then striker Will Wright, who was previously linked with Arsenal, got Liverpool’s fourth goal prior to half time.
There was a change at the break as Pedro, who also featured as a substitute for the U18s last night, came on in place of Stevens.
Liverpool and Morrison in particular continued to inflict further damage upon Arsenal, with the 19-year-old scoring twice to complete his hat-trick.
Maalik Hashi and Daniel Oyetunde came on to make rare U21 appearances for Arsenal, with Keyr Figueroa then getting Liverpool’s seventh goal from the penalty spot.
There was another debutant for Arsenal late on as Sampang replaced Sweet to feature for the U21s before he has played competitively for the U18s.
It was a deeply frustrating day for Arsenal, especially coming off the back of last night’s Youth Cup exit.
The U21s will be determined to respond when they host Burnley next week in a game in which they will hopefully have a stronger squad available.