With the first team players on international duty with the SheBelieves Cup in the USA and the Cyprus Cup, the focus this weekend turned to the youth team and they did not disappoint.

On Saturday, the u17 team clinched the league with a 3-0 with a hat-trick from Lauren James. The left winger was in superb form and gave the Chelsea right-back the runaround.

First she scored a solo goal running a good 30 yards down the left wing, knocking the ball past the right-back and the right centre-half to finish from 15 yards. Then she managed to do a Zidane turn in the penalty area and shoot from 10 yards for her second goal. She then concluded her hat-trick with a direct corner in the second half, as the Chelsea goalie did not manage to hold the ball.

Arsenal Ladies u17 have 39 points out of 13 games and have an unassainable lead over Chelsea who have 27 points in 11 games. They will be looking to do the double as they will take on Liverpool Ladies at home next Saturday in the FA Girls Youth Cup semi-final.

The development team were playing away to Manchester City in the FA WSL Development League Cup quarter-final. Unlike the men’s side, they came back from Manchester with a 4-1 win and are through to the semi-finals.

Captain Evie Clarke scored a brace, Rianna Dean scored one and u17 midfielder Anne-Marie Filbey, who has been promoted recently to the reserves, netted as well.

The starting XI was: Rogers: Driscoll Ritchie-Williams, Wubben-Moy, Cowley; Brunton-Wilde, Filbey, G Allen; Clarke, Dean, Fyfe.

The subs used were Devlin, Parker and Kiely. The unused subs were Stojko-Down and S Allen.

The development team are currently top of Southern Division with 27 points in nine games. They have a game in had over Reading and Chelsea with a three points lead over the Royals and five points lead over the Blues.

It was overall an excellent weekend for the Arsenal Ladies youth teams.