Smith hails five-star young Gunners

Under-18s coach Josh Smith was thrilled with his side’s high-scoring showing against Norwich City, making it three wins on the bounce.

The game finished 5-1, with four goals scored in the first half through Axel Donczew, Charlie Purdy and a brace from Jaden Maghoma, before Emerson Nwaneri capped off the rout in stoppage time, much to Josh's approval.

"Very impressed with the first half, to score so early again.

"We have been speaking recently in terms of: once we do score first, can we go again and get the second and the third? I think that performance has been coming. I was very impressed with the first half.

"The lads and the staff feel a little bit disappointed in terms of the second half. They feel like we could have scored a little bit more. They're young and we're trying to aim for consistency, but overall I'm very pleased."

After a slow start to the campaign, September has brought a significant improvement in results, lifting our young Gunners into fifth place with 10 points from their opening six games.

Josh believes the work carried out in training is starting to show on matchday, with his players continuing to gel and combine.

"We give the lads a base structure", he said. "A lot of the stuff that we're starting to see is just based around simple concepts.

"Whether that's off the right unit, the left, sometimes down the centre. We try and keep it as fluid as possible for them. So, yes, it's been very pleasing seeing that."

The triumph in Norfolk extended our winning streak to three, a run of form that was scarcely seen last season, and Josh explains what he believes is key to maintaining that momentum.

"For us as staff and players, it's about sticking to the process.

"As I said, there's going to be ups and downs. Some weeks we're going to win and some we're going to lose.

"But in terms of how we've been training and how we've been behaving, that's the most important thing for us there. Being consistent and sticking to the process."