Arsenal academy star Kido Taylor-Hart spoke to the Arsenal matchday programme ahead of the North London derby at the weekend.

Taylor-Hart was one of the stars of Arsenal’s u16 team last season and he’s recently signed on as a scholar with the academy.

The England u17 international is playing his first season as a regular for the Arsenal u18s, though he did score in a substitute appearance at that level last year.

Due to his pace, skill, and involvement in goals, Taylor-Hart has sometimes drawn comparisons with fellow Hale End academy product Reiss Nelson. The 16-year-old admits to the Arsenal matchday programme that he idolises the winger.

“I look up to Reiss Nelson because he plays in my position, and seeing what he has done is inspiring to me and all of us here,” Taylor-Hart said.

“Reiss’ name gets brought up a lot among the young players, especially after the start to the season he’s had, playing the first two games and doing well. We look up to the likes of him, Joe and Emile too.”

Nelson is getting a chance to spend every matchday with the Arsenal senior squad at the moment, which is the dream for most young players in the academy.

Taylor-Hart and some other u18s got a taste of what it’s like to take to the pitch with the senior players in a recent training match, as he went on to explain.

“We had a training game against the first team at the start of the season, and that was a great opportunity for us to see a lot of them up close. We played an 11v11 game and lost 5-0, but it was a great experience.

“The first team had Pepe, Lacazette, David Luiz – a good team! It was only 60 minutes but it was a good test, (fellow u18) Ryan Alebiosu was playing up with the first team so I was up against him for the game.

“It’s given me a great taste of what’s required to be at that level, and now I want to keep on developing and working hard until I get there.”

The u18s have had a tough start to the new season, with a few injuries and u23 promotions making it difficult for the side to really gel.

There’s clearly a lot of talent around the side though, so it surely won’t take long for them to be back on top of the division – as they were last year.