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It wasn’t a vintage performance as Arsenal U21s overcame their West Bromwich Albion counterparts yesterday, but it was an important result with the 1-0 victory ensuring that Max Porter’s side have made it through to the end of season playoffs.
Porter was very critical of Arsenal’s display in his post match interview with the club’s official website, but one aspect of the performance that stood out was the defensive resilience displayed by the team.
At times Arsenal have made costly errors at this level this season but on this occasion they proved too difficult for West Brom to break down.
Talented goalkeeper Ranson appears to have moved up the pecking order in recent weeks with regards to academy shot-stoppers, as shown by the fact that he was named on the bench for the first-team against Bayer Leverkusen in both legs of the recent Champions League tie.
Ranson made some superb stops as he kept a clean sheet against West Brom and it will be intriguing to see what plans the club have for his development next season, when he will no longer be able to feature at U18 level.
The goalkeeper was also helped by some excellent defensive displays from those in front of him, with centre-backs Brayden Clarke and Josh Ogunnaike forging an impressive partnership.
Both players performed some important last ditch clearances and Clarke seems especially suited to matches such as this when his team faces a barrage of attacks.
Those qualities should serve the Wales youth international well should he experience a loan spell in the near future.
Ogunnaike, meanwhile, has shown his versatility of late as he has filled in at cente-back despite mainly being a left-back. It seems very likely now that he will be offered a professional contract ahead of next season.
Marcell Washington also fared well at left-back and Arsenal will need to remain compact at the back if they are to stand any chance of making an impact in the play-offs, while they will also have to marry that resilience with greater attacking ingenuity.