Match report: Manchester City 4-1 Arsenal U-23s

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WHAT HAPPENED

Nikolaj Moller scored on his Premier League 2 debut on Saturday as we were beaten 4-1 by Manchester City.

But the scoreline doesn’t tell the story of the game, as we delivered a spirited defensive performance after going down to 10 men and being forced to use an outfield player in goal.

Still hunting for our first PL2 win of the season, we made an exceptional start after Moller combined with Balogun on the break. Moller won the flick on and set Balogun through on goal, before the latter’s effort was saved and our new signing converted the rebound.

But disaster would strike just moments later, as Felix Nmecha raced behind our defence and charged towards goal, before being wiped out by the onrushing Karl Hein.

Our young goalkeeper was shown a straight red card for his late challenge, but the drama didn’t end there. With no goalkeeper on our bench, defender Taylor Foran was introduced for his Premier League 2 debut, taking Hein’s place in goal.

Shortly after, Moller had a golden chance to double our advantage, firing Ryan Alebiosu’s dangerous delivery over the bar, before City equalised through Nmecha, who finished into the bottom corner from a tight angle.

Foran produced an exceptional save to deny Conrad Riley from close range on the stroke of half-time, but shortly after the restart, James Mcatee handed City the lead with a cool finish from the edge of the area.

We came close to an equaliser when Miguel Azeez’s dipping free-kick from distance forced James Trafford into a difficult save, before Liam Delap furthered the hosts’ advantage with a powerful strike into the top corner.

Alpha Dionkou made it four deep into injury-time, latching on to a squared pass to convert from close range.