Arsenal youngster Chido Martin Obi set a new club record for goals in an u18 Premier League season after a rout against Norwich City on Saturday.

Arsenal’s Chido Martin Obi went into Saturday’s game against Norwich City knowing he was four goals shy of matching Folarin Balogun’s club record for goals in an u18 Premier League campaign.

Within 45 minutes, the striker hadn’t just matched the record, he’d beaten it.

It took less than 60 seconds for Martin Obi to score his first goal of the game, and he doubled the lead with a composed finish in the 14th minute.

Three minutes later, Martin Obi completed his hat-trick with a finish into the bottom corner, before scoring impressively from a tight angle for 4-0 in the 28th minute.

Just before half-time, Martin Obi tapped home a fifth to hit 26 goals for the league season, one better than Balogun’s 25 in 2018/19.

The youngster is over a year younger than Balogun was in 2019. The u18 club record for a player in Martin Obi’s own age group was 20 goals, so he’s long surpassed that tally.

In the second half, Martin Obi continued to add to his tally by scoring a sixth in the 54th minute, finding the corner again. He added a seventh 10 minutes later.

The youngster has hit a level of goalscoring form never before seen for an Arsenal u18 side. Even before the Norwich City game, he’d scored 17 goals in six league fixtures.

The striker is well clear at the top of the u18 Premier League top scorers list, despite the fact that second-place Donnell McNeilly, third-place Zach Marsh, and fourth-place Rory Wilson are all 18 years old. Martin Obi is 16.

Eventually, Martin Obi let some of his teammates get in on the act, with Andre Annous scoring the eighth goal of the day and Dan Casey adding a ninth.

The match finished 9-0, with Arsenal sitting third in the u18 Premier League South with two games remaining.

Chelsea look set to win the division, but second place is still in touching distance, with West Ham just two points ahead.

In terms of what’s next on an individual level, with the u18 club record now secured, it’s clearly time for Martin Obi to start playing u21 football.

The u21 season still has some games to go, with the play-offs to come, and they don’t have a striker in anything like the same form as Martin Obi.