Mosope Ominiyi Archives: 12/2016

2016 has been a memorable year for Arsenal’s youth teams but who have been the real standouts?

After a nervy 1-0 win over West Brom last time out, Arsenal will be hoping for easier going when they entertain Crystal Palace on New Year’s Day.

After he netted his seventh goal of the current campaign in a narrow Boxing Day win over MK Dons, Charlton’s highly-rated teenager, Ademola Lookman, is becoming increasingly close to a potential Everton move.

Kieran Gibbs made only his second Premier League start of the campaign during our Boxing Day victory over West Brom and once again proved why he is a credible replacement for Nacho Monreal, who is three years his elder and has struggled for consistency so far this term.

With the majority of Europe’s top leagues on a winter break at the moment, only players in England featured over Boxing Day.

A look ahead to Arseanl’s Boxing Day game against West Brom at the Emirates

According to recent reports in both Goal and the Telegraph, highly-rated Nigerian forward Henry Onyekuru has publicly revealed his desire to play for Arsenal at some stage in the future.

After 901 minutes of Premier League football under Eddie Howe, Jack Wilshere created his first assist in Bournemouth colours.

On yet another frustrating afternoon for Arsenal, centre-back Laurent Koscielny was unsurprisingly one of the visitors’ best performers against Manchester City.

According to recent reports, Manchester City are ready to capitalise on Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s current contract situation and offer £25m to sign the talented Englishman in the January transfer window.

According to a recent report in the Mirror, Arsenal are set to loan out Rob Holding in January with the centreback eager for more minutes at a competitive level.

There were more minutes for Arsenal’s players out on loan, with both goalkeeper Ryan Huddart and midfielder Jon Toral starting for their respective sides on Saturday.

Arsenal u18s have been knocked out of this year’s FA Youth Cup after a surprise 1-0 defeat in the third-round of the prestigious competition.

After a surprising 2-1 away defeat in midweek at the hands of Everton, it’s essential that Arsenal come away with a good result against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side given how the Premier League table is rapidly forming at the top.

Jack Wilshere made the headlines on Tuesday evening for all the right reasons: starting against Leicester meant he had played more Premier League minutes on loan on the south Coast this season than the previous two injury-ravaged campaigns at Arsenal, just reiterating how beneficial his loan spell away from the Emirates has been thus far.

Wojciech Szczesny made a string of important saves, including a stop to deny M’Baye Niang’s first-half penalty, keeping a hard-fought clean sheet as Roma prevailed over AC Milan on Monday evening.

Stephy Mavididi netted a brace but Arsenal u23s were unable to take any points against a strong Liverpool side, which included the likes of defensive duo Mamadou Sakho and Joe Gomez, as well as Sheyi Ojo and highly rated forward, Harry Wilson.

After a satisfying home victory against Stoke on Saturday afternoon, it’s another away trip for Arsenal as they face an Everton side eager to make amends for a collectively poor defensive display in their 3-2 defeat against Watford this past weekend.

Despite a tense afternoon on Sunday lunchtime, Chelsea fought hard and eventually snatched a 1-0 win over a resolute West Brom side, who defended well collectively for sustained periods but were punished for a costly second half mistake.

After an impressive display against West Ham last weekend, it came as a surprise to me that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain didn’t start against Basel in midweek.