Ben Sheaf played another 90 minutes in defence against Manchester City on Friday evening, as the 18-year-old continues to adapt to a new role in Steve Gatting's side.
The Gunners lost 1-0 at the Etihad Stadium despite repeatedly going close to levelling the scores, and here's what Sheaf had to say to us post-match:
on a difficult game…
Yeah, it was a difficult game. I think it was pretty even game with chances for either team. It was an improvement on last week’s game against Reading, that was a disappointing performance. We defended a bit better tonight but just didn’t have that cutting edge in front of goal and around the edge of the box to finish our chances.
on almost equalising…
Ainsley hit the post, that was unlucky and we had a few half chances here and there that maybe on another day would’ve gone in. We didn’t deserve to lose but sometimes that’s the way football goes.
"It definitely gives us confidence, there’s a lot of positives to take from the game."
Ben Sheaf
on City…
It definitely gives us confidence, there’s a lot of positives to take from the game. There’s top players in the country round here, as we have as well. We’ve put up a good fight, it’s just a disappointing result in the end.
on changing position…
I’m just filling in at the moment. I’m doing okay there I think and I think I did alright, but a new position is another learning curve for me and I’m adapting okay there at the moment. I want to hopefully get a few games in midfield but I’m doing alright there [in defence] at the moment.
on playing at the Emirates next…
Whenever we go to the Emirates we enjoy playing there. As I said, we took the positives from the game and we’re already looking forward to the game against Liverpool, because I think we can get a good result there.
The under-23s are in action this Friday against Liverpool at Emirates Stadium in what promises to be an entertaining fixture.
The game will be shown LIVE on Arsenal.com, but you can get tickets here.
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