The Arsenal u18s drew 2-2 with Southampton on Tuesday, twice coming from behind to secure a point away from home.

Omari Hutchinson with the Arsenal u18s (Photo via Hutchinson on Instagram)
Omari Hutchinson with the Arsenal u18s (Photo via Hutchinson on Instagram)

After getting back to winning ways at the end of March with victories over Blackburn Rovers and Reading, the Arsenal u18s travelled to Southampton for a rescheduled league game on Tuesday.

Unfortunately, it started much the same way as the Reading clash did, with Arsenal going behind in the first 10 minutes. Luke Pearce converted a penalty to make it 1-0 to the hosts.

Arsenal fought back, with Khayon Edwards converting a Jack Henry-Francis assist for 1-1, but Pearce gave Southampton the lead again in the 42nd minute.

Right as it looked like Arsenal were heading into the tunnel 2-1 down, Omari Hutchinson scored yet another goal for the side, assisted by Brooke Norton-Cuffy. Hutchinson is now up to 15 goal contributions in 20 games this season.

Though Arsenal couldn’t secure the win in the second half, there were a couple of pieces of good news, as both Marcelo Flores and Luigi Gaspar finally returned to the pitch as substitutes.

After a strong start to the season, Flores has been out for the last few months, whilst Gaspar was yet to make his competitive u18 debut due to injury problems of his own. The duo came on in the 64th and 81st minute respectively.

The u18s felt unfortunate to leave Southampton with only a point, particularly after dominating the chances. They had twice as many shots and shots on target as their opponents, but couldn’t quite make it count this time.

They’ll have a chance to put that right very soon, with another match away to Fulham on Saturday at 10:30 BST.

Lineup vs Southampton: Ejeheri; Norton-Cuffy, Awe, Foran, Ogungbo; Henry-Francis, Cirjan; Hutchinson, Sagoe Jr, Ideho; Edwards

Subs: Flores (for Sagoe Jr, 64), Gaspar (for Cirjan, 81)

Unused subs: Mitchell, Robinson, Green