Our under-21s are set to kick-off their Leasing.com Trophy campaign on Tuesday night when they face Northampton Town at Sixfields Stadium.
THE STORY SO FAR
Steve Bould’s side have made an impressive start to their Premier League 2 season, sitting second in the table with seven points from three fixtures.
They kick-started their 2019/20 campaign with a comfortable 3-1 win over Blackburn Rovers and a 2-1 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion, before being held to a 2-2 draw by Everton at Emirates Stadium.
Our youngsters dominated the Toffees throughout, playing some fine attacking football, but they were unable to stop the champions from taking their chances and securing a valuable point.
Folarin Balogun remains our topscorer this season with three goals to his name, while Tyreece John-Jules opened his account last Friday with a stunning backheel volley.
We progressed through the group stage of the Checkatrade Trophy last season winning two of our three fixtures, but were eventually knocked out by Portsmouth, the eventual winners, in the second round.
THE OPPOSITION
Our upcoming opponents are currently struggling for form in League Two, having picked up just one victory from their opening five fixtures.
During this time they’ve scored three and conceded five, placing them 20th in the table on four points. The season prior, the Cobblers finished 15th with 61 points.
Experienced forward Andy Williams finished as their 2018/19 top scorer with 12 across all competitions. And he’s already got one to his name this season, having scored in a 1-0 win over Swindon last week.
ONE TO WATCH
Harry Clarke played a key role in our under-18s title-winning campaign - and he appears to have made a seamless transition into under-23s football.
The tough-tackling defender has started in all three of our PL2 fixtures this season, showing great composure on the ball and dominance in the air. Few attackers have found joy against the 18-year-old in one-on-one situations.
But he’ll need to be at his best on Tuesday night as he prepares to face senior opposition for the first time in his career.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
You can receive live updates by following our Twitter account @ArsenalAcademy.
Stay close to Arsenal.com for our match report and post-match reaction.
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.
