U18s report: Arsenal 2-0 Crystal Palace

Our under-18s secured a second-straight win in the U18 Premier League South with a 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon.

Emerson Nwaneri opened the scoring in the first half, latching onto Jayden Maghoma's pinpoint delivery to break the deadlock.

Palace pushed for an equaliser after the break, but a brilliant late strike from Callan Hamill put the game beyond the Eagles' reach and ensured we took all three points.

FIRST HALF

After a slow start to the game, the visitors had the first opportunity when Raihaan Anderson forced an excellent close-range save from Remi Lupinski.

With the Palace chance acting as a wake-up call for our young Gunners, we sprung into action, and almost took the lead when Maghoma's low effort was saved by Lucca Benetton.

The breakthrough came just after the half hour mark with Maghoma picking the ball up on the left wing and picking out Nwaneri, who found the bottom corner from close range.

We could've doubled our lead before the break when Maalik Hashi played a neat one-two with Hamill, only to place his effort wide of the far post.

SECOND HALF

We kept the momentum up at the start of the second half, keeping the Eagles boxed in.

Our best chance in the opening 15 minutes of the half came when Hashi and Nwaneri combined to set up Luiz Munoz on the edge of the box, but the 14-year-old placed his effort just wide.

After changes from both sides, we enjoyed a sustained spell of possession with few chances for either side.

But when Palace stepped up the tempo in the final 15 minutes, we were ready to pounce, and doubled our lead when Hamill rifled a fine effort into the top corner from the edge of the penalty area.

WHAT IT MEANS

Victory moves us up into the top half of the U18 Premier League South table, sitting eighth with seven points from our opening five games.

WHAT'S NEXT

Our under-18s head to East Anglia to take on Norwich City next Saturday, September 19, with kick-off set for 12pm (UK).

LINE-UPS

Arsenal XI: Lupinski, Hamill, Abubakar, McCarron, Mbala, Murisa, Munoz (Phillips, 81'), Purdy, Maghoma, Hashi (Sesay, 61'), Nwaneri (Donczew, 61')

Subs: Lo Presti, Stachow, Owusu-Gyasi, Sampang, Phillips, Donczew, Sesay

Crystal Palace XI: Benetton, Greaves, Kalembo, O'Keefe, Monk, Mulvenna, Lamidi, Fasida, Martin, Anderson, Moses

Subs: Speroni, Baah, Lee, Chinomoso, Bonsu-Amako, Owoade, Williams