WHAT HAPPENED
Joel Lopez scored his first goal for the club on Saturday as we defeated West Ham United 5-2 in the Under-18 Premier League.
Folarin Balogun also found the back of the net, scoring twice to take his goalscoring tally up to 22 for the season across all competitions.
As ever, we were fast out of the blocks and found ourselves leading in the 14th minute when Zak Swanson provided the finishing touch to a well-worked free-kick routine.
Sam Greenwood fizzed the ball across the edge of the penalty area and Swanson found the bottom left corner with a first-time strike.
Shortly after, Vontae Daley-Campbell’s searching pass placed Balogun one-on-one with defender Josh Okotcha, who was unable to stop the 17-year-old from charging at goal and finding the bottom corner with a cool left-footed finish.
Lopez made it three before the break with an impressive solo goal, wriggling his way past four defenders down the left before firing into the roof of the net.
The opening exchanges of the second half proved to be no different to the first, with Mark McGuinness latching onto a loose ball inside the area to increase our advantage from close range.
Trae Coyle and Balogun have worked up an impressive partnership over recent weeks, combining dangerously down the left - and this was displayed perfectly when Coyle’s dinked pass unlocked the Hammers’ defence and allowed the 17-year-old to finish past the onrushing Serine Sanneh.
The hosts scored twice in the final 15 minutes through Emmanuel Longelo and an own-goal by McGuinness - but this was merely a small stain on what was an otherwise impressive performance.
WHAT IT MEANS
WHAT’S NEXT
Following the international break, Ken Gillard’s side will face Swansea City on Saturday, March 30.
The game will take place at London Colney with kick-off at 11am (UK time).
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
