U-18s: Arsenal 5-2 Swansea - Report

By Lloyd Webb

Eddie Nketiah scored twice as Arsenal Under-18s recorded their first victory of 2016 by beating Swansea at London Colney.

Yassin Fortune, Reiss Nelson and Vlad Dragomir all scored headed goals to give the Gunners a comfortable lead.

Nketiah claimed a brace later in the second half to put the game beyond doubt for the hosts.

The Gunners were robbed of their first clean sheet of the year when Liam Edwards and substitute Jordan Jones both struck late on.

Frans de Kat made nine changes for his side's first league game since November. Hugo Keto and Kris Da Graca were the only two players who held on to their starting berths.

It took Fortune just nine minutes to claim the Gunners’ first goal of 2016 with a composed header at the far post.

Nelson doubled the hosts’ advantage six minutes later when he headed home Aaron Eyoma’s cross.

Dragomir made it a hat-trick of headers when he connected with Eyoma’s cross shortly after the break.

Nketiah finally claimed a goal having troubled Swansea’s defence throughout when he raced on to Josh Dasilva’s through ball and calmly rolled it into the net.

The striker soon got his second when he fired home from substitute Joe Willock’s pull back.

Edwards’ deflected strike pulled one back before substitute Jones fired past Keto but the Gunners saw out the game to secure all three points.