Arsenal’s under-21s showcased their never-say-die attitude in a thrilling Premier League 2 match against Southampton.
After a tough first half, the young Gunners roared back to secure a decisive 4-2 victory that demonstrates their growing resilience and potential.
Our four goals 🫶#AFCU21 | #PL2 pic.twitter.com/FYwskt3Kp5
— Arsenal Academy (@ArsenalAcademy) February 16, 2024
Arsenal‘s young guns showcased their ability with a thrilling 4-2 victory over Southampton in Premier League 2 action on Friday night. Despite falling behind 2-1 by halftime, they rallied after the break to pull off a superb win.
The match opened with a bang – Ismail Oulad M’Hand forced a Southampton error and Nathan Butler-Oyedeji capitalised with a curling opener within two minutes. Yet, Southampton didn’t back down, with Luke Pearce equalising and Cameron Bragg putting them ahead before halftime.
Despite losing Ovie Ejeheri to injury with Alexei Rojas replacing him, Arsenal‘s fighting spirit didn’t diminish. Osman Kamara sparked the second-half surge, assisted by Jimi Gower.
Soon after, Oulad M’Hand turned scorer thanks to a Michal Rosiak corner routine.
Building on that energy, Gower found his own opening after Oulad M’Hand recovered the ball.
After the game, u21s boss Mehmet Ali said, “Definitely a great result because we won the game, got three points and scored three goals in the second half to win 4-2, but in terms of the performance we weren’t happy tonight as a group of staff and the lads were disappointed with their performance and rightly so.
“The way we play, you have to really commit out of possession to go for the opposition and we didn’t do that well enough. We had to make a few tweaks to help players on the pitch and it was better in the second half.
“We won more duels, we were more aggressive and got some goals on transition which was good, and from a set-piece, but with the ball we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Mehmet added.
“We’ve had a lot of second years come up and we’ve got a lot of work to do on the training pitch because we didn’t look after the ball well enough and dominate how I know that we can.”
Arsenal fans now await their next game against West Bromwich Albion on February 26th.