U18s preview: Arsenal v Norwich City

Our under-18s host Norwich City at London Colney on Saturday for a 12pm kick-off.

Ahead of the game, here is everything you need to know.

Last time out

We played out a thrilling 3-3 draw away to Crystal Palace.

Mason Cotcher gave us the lead on the brink of half-time, but Palace responded with two early goals in the second half from Zach Marsh and Hindolo Mustapha.

Bless Akolbire found the equaliser for us, but Marsh then netted his brace as Palace took the lead again.

Nevertheless, in the game’s dying embers, Omari Benjamin got on the end of Seb Ferdinand’s well-placed cross to make it 3-3 and extend our unbeaten run to four games. 

We are now seventh in the U18 Premier League South, six places and 12 points ahead of Norwich, who are bottom of the table with eight defeats from eight.

Canaries in focus

Norwich have the leakiest defence in the league with 34 goals conceded in eight matches, and have scored the joint-fewest (10) alongside 11th-placed Reading.

The Canaries have let in at least four goals in five of their eight games, most recently losing 7-0 at home to Aston Villa after a 7-2 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur.

Last time we met

In our first U18 Premier League match of 2023, Omari Benjamin gave us the lead before Elliot Myles drew level for Norwich at London Colney.

Pedro Amadou then gave the Canaries the lead before Jimi Gower equalised to make it 2-2.

The Canaries went ahead again courtesy of Michael Reindorf to go 3-2 up, but late goals from Luis Brown and Ismail Oulad M’Hand saw us complete an impressive turnaround to win 4-3.

How to follow

We will be providing updates throughout the game on our Arsenal Academy Twitter page, and there will be a match report published on Arsenal.com after the final whistle.

We will also be sharing post-match interviews with Jack Wilshere and one of his young Gunners, as well as highlights of all the action.