Arsenal U21s, who were without several of their key players due to international duty, suffered a 3-1 defeat away to Sunderland last night.
The result saw Max Porter’s side fall to 14th place in the Premier League 2 table with only two matches of the regular season remaining.
Only the top 16 teams will make it through to the main end of season playoffs, which means that Arsenal are likely to have little margin for error in their games against West Bromwich Albion and Crystal Palace.
Andre Harriman-Annous, who both scored and missed a penalty, was Arsenal’s most prominent player last night.
Having previously mainly been deployed as a central striker over the past couple of seasons, Harriman-Annous has moved out onto the left wing on a more regular basis following the arrival of Evan Mooney.
The positional switch has enabled Harriman-Annous to showcase his excellent dribbling and linkup play, while he has often combined well with Mooney at times.
First year scholars Abraham Owusu-Gyasi (defender) and Maalik Hashi (midfielder) both started last night as they gained valuable experience at that level.
There were also opportunities off the bench for another first year in Teshaun Murisa and schoolboy Mishel Nduka.
Max Porter will hope to have several players back available, including captain Marli Salmon, for the game at home to West Brom early next month.
—
Jeorge Bird is the author of www.arsenalyouth.wordpress.com Follow him on Twitter @jeorgebird