Our under-21s lost 4-0 against Rapid Vienna II in Slovakia on Saturday.
With 12 academy players away on the US pre-season tour with Mikel Arteta’s first-team squad, Saturday’s U21s squad was largely made up of under-18s players.
After Brian Okonkwo tipped a long-range strike over the crossbar, Yasin Mankan gave Rapid the lead inside just five minutes with a free-kick into the top left corner, before Niki Wurmbrand’s 27th-minute strike made it 2-0.
Tobi Hedl kept the scoring going shortly after the break after cutting in from the right and picking out the bottom left corner, before Daris Dezic netted a fourth in the 63rd minute.
There were shouts for a penalty when Dezic went down in the 18-yard box but the referee wasn’t convinced.
There was a penalty shootout scheduled to take place after the game regardless of the result, which we won.
TEAM NEWS
Arsenal XI: Okonkwo, Julienne, Kacurri, Monlouis, Quesada-Thorn, Patino, I. Oulad M’Hand, Dudziak, Kabia, Edwards, Butler-Oyedeji.
Substitutes: Ranson, Porter, Robinson, Clarke, Sweet, Shuaib, Ferdinand, Copley, Forde, Casey, Kamara, C. Ismail.
What's next?
Mehmet Ali's young Gunners are back on home soil next week with a trip to Bishop's Stortford for a 7.45pm kick-off at Dunmow Road on Wednesday, before ending the week away to Lincoln City, which kicks off at 3pm at Sincil Bank on Saturday.
Copyright 2025 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
