Match report: Arsenal U-23s 1-0 Everton

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WHAT HAPPENED

Emile Smith Rowe scored the winner as our under-23s secured a 1-0 victory over Everton at Emirates Stadium on Friday afternoon.

Calum Chambers, Sokratis and William Saliba were all named in our starting XI and defended resolutely throughout, helping us to secure back-to-back victories in the Premier League 2 for the first time in 2020/21.

Full of confidence from our 6-0 win over Blackburn Rovers last week, we started strongly and opened the scoring after just nine minutes.

Matt Macey played an incisive pass into our midfield and kickstarted a counter-attack, before Smith Rowe applied the finishing touch to Ben Cottrell’s through ball.

Folarin Balogun and Nikolaj Moller are beginning to form a dangerous partnership in attack, and they continued to threaten against the Toffees, twice coming close before the break.

Following the restart, Miguel Azeez was introduced from the bench and instantly posed a threat, combining with Cottrell on the edge of the area before firing wide.

We continued to push on for our second of the afternoon, but were dealt a frustrating blow on the hour mark.

Charging into the penalty area at pace, Balogun appeared to be brought down by an Everton defender, but the referee thought otherwise and he was dismissed for a second yellow card.

The visitors went direct for the final 20 minutes, testing our defence with a number of searching long balls, but we stood firm to secure all three points.