The Arsenal u18s saw their unbeaten run under Dan Micciche coming to an end on Saturday, despite another goal from Marcelo Flores.
Taylor Foran captained the Arsenal u18s as they travelled to Leicester City on Saturday, with the chance to go top of the u18 Premier League South with a win.
Unfortunately, they were up against a strong Leicester City side, who started the faster of the two sides and ended up taking the lead in the 34th minute from the penalty spot. Kian Pennant converted the spot-kick.
Arsenal had gone eight games without defeat, avoiding a loss in any of their competitive fixtures under Dan Micciche this season, and they showed some of that resilience to immediately draw level.
Marcelo Flores scored the goal, assisted by James Sweet, two players who have been performing well in recent weeks. The two teams went in at the break with the scores level.
Despite Arsenal seeing more of the ball across the 90, however, they really struggled to convert that into good opportunities.
Flores’ goal was Arsenal’s only shot on target throughout the match, and Chris Popov ended up scoring a winner for the hosts in the 69th minute.
Micciche introduced second-half substitutes Henry Jeffcott, Luigi Gaspar, and Josh Robinson to try and change things, but the side were condemned to their first defeat of the campaign.
On a positive note, Gaspar’s introduction was his first appearance of the season, after some injury problems throughout 2021. He’ll hope to make some further appearances in the coming weeks to rebuild his match sharpness.
Missing the chance to go top, Arsenal now sit third in the u18 Premier League South, two points off Fulham in top spot and one point behind today’s opponents Leicester City.
Marcelo Flores’ goal takes him to six for the season and three assists in nine games in all competitions, one goal involvement per game so far this season.
Arsenal u18 lineup vs Leicester City
Mitchell, Walters, Awe, Foran, Bandeira, Ibrahim, Sweet, Sagoe Jr, Quamina, Flores, Edwards
Substitutes
Kovacevic, Robinson, Gaspar, Jeffcott, Richards
What’s next?
The Arsenal u18s host Crystal Palace on Saturday, October 30th at 11:00 BST. Palace currently sit fourth in the table and level on points with the Gunners.