The Arsenal u23s pulled off a quite incredible comeback to draw with Leicester City and hold onto the Premier League 2 top spot on Saturday.
After Arsenal’s youth match against Plymouth Argyle was rescheduled to earlier this week, the club also had to take the decision to move their clash with Leicester City.
The u23s were set to face Leicester at the Emirates Stadium on Friday, but the game was moved behind closed doors to London Colney on Saturday.
As a result, there’s only so much we can tell you about the match, which had one of the most dramatic finishes possible.
With the scores level at 0-0 around the hour mark, Leicester started to pull away, with Terell Pennant, Tawanda Maswanhise, and Ben Nelson all scoring in a 17-minute period to give the visitors a 3-0 lead.
Arsenal’s chances had been hit even further when striker Mika Biereth was forced to go in goal for the latter stages. Betsy had made all three substitutes, before Karl Hein presumably picked up an injury.
With 90 minutes up and only injury time remaining, 3-0 down with a striker in goal, the odds couldn’t have been more stacked against Kevin Betsy’s side. Yet, somehow, they made a comeback.
Tim Akinola got Arsenal off the mark in the 91st minute, with what seemed like a consolation goal at the time. But Omari Hutchinson then bagged a goal of his own two minutes later, and suddenly an equaliser seemed possible.
In the 96th minute, moments before the final whistle, Arsenal u23 captain Folarin Balogun bagged his 10th goal of the season in all competitions to make it 3-3 and earn the team a point.
That point was enough to keep them ahead of West Ham United on top of the league, with Manchester City losing to Everton to drop to third.
Arsenal were at least filming the game, so hopefully we can get some highlights for you at some stage!
Arsenal u23 lineup vs Leicester City
Hein, Swanson, Walters, Monlouis, Norton-Cuffy, Akinola, Henry-Francis, Taylor-Hart, Lopez, Balogun, Biereth
Substitutes
Ejeheri, Olayinka (for Walters, 69), Hutchinson (for Norton-Cuffy, 61), Butler-Oyedeji, Ideho (for Taylor-Hart, 75)
What’s next?
Some players will head off with their countries over the international break, but the u23 fixtures don’t stop, with Arsenal facing West Brom u23s in the Premier League Cup on Thursday at 19:00 GMT at Meadow Park.