U18 Preview: Saints vs Arsenal
Southampton’s youngsters return to Snows Stadium on Tuesday morning, with the visit of Arsenal in the Under-18s Premier League.
Saints vs Arsenal
Under-18s Premier League
Snows Stadium
Tuesday 6th April, 11.30am GMT
Saints will be raring to put things right as soon as possible on Tuesday following a heavy defeat on the road to Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Title chasing Palace were tested by Saints for the majority of the first half, only grabbing the lead a minute from the break through Maliq Cadogan’s first of the game.
It was another hard-fought start to the second 45 by Saints’ youngsters, with Palace only managing to break their visitors down just past the hour mark.
Further goals from Kayden Rodney, Kevin Gonzalez and another from Cadogan sealed a comprehensive victory.
It was far from a quiet afternoon for Tuesday’s visitors Arsenal on Saturday; hosts Reading took a 2-0 lead inside five minutes, before Omari Giraud-Hutchinson grabbed a quick goal back before 15 minutes for the Gunners.
Arsenal equalised on the half-hour mark through Joel Ideho, before Michael Stickland put the Royals ahead once more just shy of the break.
The second half saw both sides going for the gauntlet, before Henry Jeffcott grabbed just that for Arsenal on 59 minutes.
A win for Saints would see them go a point behind Leicester City, whilst three points for Arsenal would put them a point behind Chelsea with a game in hand.
The two sides previously met at Arsenal’s London Colney training ground on the opening game of the season.
It was a game that wasn’t short of entertainment too; Luke Plange, a Ryan Finnigan own goal and Marcelo Flores goals meaning the hosts lead comfortably after just 36 minutes.
Saints looked to mount a fightback during the final ten minutes, cutting Arsenal’s lead down to just one in the second minute of stoppage time after Goran Babic and Jayden Smith netted.
But the result was sealed in the 98th minute, Khayon Edwards scoring to cement a 4-2 win.
