Arsenal kicked off the new Premier League 2 campaign in style on Friday night, playing in the revamped version of the competition for the first time.
The new Premier League 2 involves one table of 26 teams, but each individual team only plays against 20 of the others over the course of the season, and only once – not home and away.
The 20 teams you face are determined by your Premier League 2 finishes over the previous few seasons.
After that, the teams that finish in the top 16 progress into a play-off knockout tournament, with better league positions leading to more favourable knockout draws.
The simple way of looking at it is just that Arsenal need to win as many matches as they can between now and the end of April. That started with West Ham at Meadow Park on Friday.
Match report
Ethan Nwaneri signed a new scholarship deal with Arsenal earlier in the summer, and he was on top of his game in his first appearance back with the u21s.
The midfielder had an early chance of his own, before creating one or two for his teammates as Arsenal edged the first-half chances.
At the other end, Reuell Walters was called upon to prevent a good opportunity for the visitors, and there was bad news at the end of the half as Jack Henry-Francis picked up an injury.
Henry-Francis ended up leaving the game on crutches, and we all hope it’s not as serious as it looks.
Myles Lewis-Skelly came on as a substitute just before the break, and he was the one to eventually break the deadlock.
Amario Cozier-Duberry and Nathan Butler-Oyedeji had chances early in the second half, but Lewis-Skelly was the player on hand to make it 1-0 as a Nwaneri free-kick deflected into his path in the 58th minute.
Nwaneri was involved again minutes later, setting up Butler-Oyedeji for Arsenal’s second goal.
Arsenal dominated the second half, and Cozier-Duberry ended up scoring a deserved third in injury time from an assist by substitute Khayon Edwards.
It was a convincing win, putting Mehmet Ali’s side level on points with the other opening-day winners: Chelsea, West Brom, Leeds United, and Fulham.
Chelsea were the only side to win by a greater margin than Arsenal, so the young Gunners sit second in the table.
Arsenal u21 lineup vs West Ham United
Ejeheri, Sweet, Monlouis, Walters, Sousa, Ibrahim, Henry-Francis, Nwaneri, Cozier-Duberry, Sagoe Jr, Butler-Oyedeji
Substitutes
Lewis-Skelly (for Henry-Francis, 44), Gower (for Nwaneri, 82), Edwards (for Butler-Oyedeji, 82), Foran (for Sagoe Jr, 90+3), Rojas
What’s next?
The Arsenal u21s take on Leicester City in another home game in the Premier League 2 on Friday, August 18th at 19:00 BST.
