Our Under-21s secured their first win of 2025 with a commanding 2-0 victory over Nottingham Forest at Meadow Park on Friday night.
Goals on either side of half-time from Salah and Khayon Edwards ensured we returned to winning ways in style.
We started the match brightly, creating early opportunities with some slick attacking play. A promising move began with Ismael Kabia breaking forward and finding Ismail Oulad M'Hand, who played the ball to Nathan Butler-Oyedeji. He teed up Edwards, but the striker’s shot was straight at the keeper.
Shortly after, Harrison Dudziak delivered a low-driven corner, which deflected out to Michal Rosiak. Unfortunately, his effort flew well over the bar.
Our persistence paid off as we took a deserved lead. Kabia found space on the right and whipped a precise cross to the penalty spot. Salah controlled the ball expertly behind him, turned sharply, and fired it into the corner—a superb finish.
We almost doubled our advantage before the break when Rosiak unleashed a powerful strike, only to see Murray-Jones produce a fantastic save, tipping it out of the top corner for a corner kick.
At half-time, Charles Sagoe Jr came on to make his return from a loan spell at Shrewsbury Town and wasted no time making an impact. He delivered a dangerous cross into the box, causing chaos, which eventually led to Edwards firing just wide from the edge of the area.
Our second goal came when Maldini Kacurri went on a marauding run from defence and was brought down in the penalty area. Edwards stepped up confidently and sent the keeper the wrong way, doubling our advantage.
Tommy Setford was called into action late on when substitutes Djamna and Kristian Fletcher combined well in the box. Fletcher’s effort looked destined for the net, but Setford got down quickly to his left, producing a brilliant save to push the shot behind for a corner.
In the end, we held firm to secure a well-earned victory and a valuable three points.
WHAT it means
Our first win of 2025 sees us climb to 19 points after 12 games played.
WHAT's next
We return to league action in two weeks with a trip to West Ham on Friday, February 7.
Kick-off at Rush Green Stadium is scheduled for 7pm (UK time)
LINE-UPS
Arsenal XI: Setford, Rosiak, Kacurri, Monlouis, Ismail, Dudziak, Oulad M'Hand (Henry-Francis, 63), Salah (Harriman-Annous, 78) Kabia, Butler-Oyedeji (Sagoe Jr, 46), Edwards
Subs (not used): Nygaard, Clarke
Nottingham Forest XI: Murray-Jones, Sinclair, Powell (Djamna, 63), Abbott, Thompson, Hammond, McAdam, Perkins, Gardiner (Norkett, 84), Nadin, Berry (Fletcher, 75)
Subs (not used): Brook, Brown
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