Arsenal’s Kido Taylor-Hart and Billy Vigar got their youth loans started with debuts for the Derby County u21s on Monday.

Facing off against the Norwich City u21s on Monday night, Kido Taylor-Hart and Billy Vigar both made the Derby County starting lineup for their debuts.

Taylor-Hart played 90 minutes and Vigar played 82, but the result didn’t go their way, with Derby losing 3-0.

That’s not exactly surprising, given Derby’s horrendous record this season. The Premier League 2 Division 2 side now have zero points from 12 games, whilst their opponents Norwich are third in the table and in contention for promotion.

But even if the result went against them, this was still a positive step for the two Arsenal youngsters.

Taylor-Hart had only played 63 minutes of Premier League 2 football this season before Monday, whilst Vigar had played 34. Both players beat their Arsenal season tally in one game with Derby.

That was the point of this rather unusual loan, after all. Normally, you wouldn’t expect players to go on loan from one academy to another, with the exception of emergency goalkeeper cover.

But with Derby so in need of reinforcements and the Arsenal duo in need of minutes, it just made sense.

Derby’s next game will be a better opportunity for Taylor-Hart and Vigar to show what they can do, up against Sunderland – themselves just two places above Derby in the table.

That game takes place next Monday (February 20th) at 19:00 GMT.

Whether Taylor-Hart and Vigar can get Derby the results they need or not, it’s encouraging to see the two players out on the pitch and playing substantial minutes at the first opportunity.