Arsenal Women’s youth academy continues its winning tradition with a thrilling victory in the PGA League Under-21 Southern Division.

Vivienne Lia and Tara Junaid were the standout scorers, securing a 2-0 win over Sheffield United and edging out Chelsea for the top spot.

This success raises the question of whether these young talents can transition to the senior Arsenal squad.

The young Gunners have been crowned champions of PGA League under 21 Southern division after defeating Sheffield United 2 goals to nil with Vivienne Lia and Tara Junaid the goal scorers. They beat Chelsea by one point to finish top of the League.

Academy football is very successful for Arsenal Women’s youth team with countless trophies won through the years, but until recently it did not translate into players making it through to the first team. Last season saw three players sign professional contracts once they reached 18 years old: Freya Godfrey, Naomi Williams and Michelle Agyemang. I would hope that at least two or three new contracts will be signed by youngsters from this year’s intake.

Then as always, it is a question of getting those players first team minutes at Arsenal or somewhere else, so that they carry on developing and get ready for first team football at the Arsenal. Because, the gulf between Academy u-21 football and first team football is huge. Speed and intensity are multiplied by at least 1.5, the physical impact is also so different. We have a very good midfielder Maddison Earl who is two footed and has great vision on the pitch, but she is quite small, so you do wonder if she can physically develop to be able to do what she does at Academy level the same way with the first team.

The team was Maddison Stanbury; Maisie Wilson (c), Marnie Morrison, Katie Reid, Sophie Harrison; Maddison Earl, Tara Junaid, Amelia Bloom; Ruby Seaby, Isabella Fisher, Vivienne Lia. And the subs used were Eva Gray, Niamh Peacock, Lucy Lyon, Sienna Hurrell and Gesa Marashi.

Vivienne Lia scored the opener from an Isabella Fisher low cross from the right after they had managed to evade the defence on the wing. Tara Junaid scored the second goal from close range after a cross from the left wing from Sophie Harrison looped over the Sheffield goalkeeper. Arsenal had two penalties in the first half that the Sheffield goalkeeper saved on both occasions as she dived the right way and denied our centre-forward twice.

Overall, it was a good performance from the Academy team, we can see they want to play football the Arsenal way and develop a good attacking football based on possession through the thirds. It is important to note that despite being a u21 side, it is really a u19 side with a lot of players still u17. So, they are at least two or three years from being ready to play senior football at Championship or WSL level. Obviously, a few of them are training with the first team and have made appearances for the first team like Katie Reid last week or Vivienne Lia. Maddison Earl also have been on the first team bench for a few times now.

Congratulations to the players and the coaching staff for winning the Southern Division. They will play a play-off soon against Leicester Or United to determine the overall u21 Academy champion.