By Lloyd Webb
Summary
Arsenal Under-21s maintained their 100 per cent start to the season with a 3-2 victory at Wolves on Friday evening.
The Gunners recovered after Eusebio Bancessi opened the scoring for the hosts, with Chris Willock and Stephy Mavididi on target to give them the lead at half-time.
Alex Iwobi reacted to a defensive mistake to add to the visitors' lead before Jordan Graham pulled one back to set up a tense finish. But Arsenal held on to maintain their place at the top of the table.
Setting The Scene
Steve Gatting made two changes to the side that won at Newcastle 2-1 last week.
The injured Jeff Reine-Adelaide was replaced by Willock while Matt Macey was in goal instead of Ryan Huddart.
Both Iwobi and Macey were on Arsene Wenger’s bench for the 2-1 win at Tottenham in the Capital One Cup on Wednesday, but returned to under-21 action.
First Half
Arsenal started slowly and were punished when Bancessi converted Tommy Rowe’s cross from close range in the 20th minute.
The Gunners responded immediately when, three minutes later, Willock cut in from the left flank and hammered a shot past Jon Flatt.
Mavididi found space in the box just after the half-hour mark to curl the ball around Flatt and give the visitors the lead.
Second Half
The second half continued in much the same vein as the first until Kaylen Hinds hit the bar after racing on to Iwobi’s pass 15 minutes from the end.
Iwobi then scored Arsenal’s third when he capitalised on a defensive mix-up and slotted the ball past Flatt.
Jordan Graham pulled one back for Wolves near the end later but the Gunners managed to see out the win.
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