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'When Nketiah starts, there are goals'

Our under-23s returned to Premier League 2 action on Friday after a four-week mid-season break with a 2-1 win over Derby County.

Goals from Savvas Mourgos and Eddie Nketiah saw us enjoy victory for the fourth time in five league matches, in a game which saw Chuba Akpom return from injury.

Ben Sheaf played the full 90 minutes - and here's what he had to say to ArsenalPlayer after the final whistle:

on a perfect startā€¦
Yeah definitely, we havenā€™t had a game for about four weeks so it was important to start the new year with a win. It was a good first half, couldā€™ve been a bit betterā€¦ but second half they got back into it with a sloppy goal from a set-piece. But we managed to get back in the game and held out for a 2-1 win.

on whether it took time to get back into the swing of thingsā€¦
A little bit of cobwebs were there, definitely. But after four weeks, maybe you should expect a bit of rustiness. But no, weā€™re glad to get the win and considering we had four weeks off it wasnā€™t a bad performance.

on another winā€¦
Like you said, a slow start but then we got about four wins on the bounce and then obviously lost at Liverpool which was a difficult game. But back to winning ways today and we just want to kick on from here and climb our way up the table.

on Derbyā€™s goalā€¦
As I said, conceding from a set-piece is always sloppy. But we had a lot of possession, they sat behind the ball and were difficult to break down but a great pass from Savvas [Mourgos] and a great finish from Eddie [Nketiah] gave us the win.

on Eddieā€™s value to the sideā€¦
Heā€™s brilliant. On or off the bench, heā€™s a threat all day. When he starts thereā€™s goals. Him, Stephy, Chubaā€¦ whoever plays, weā€™ve got goal threats all over the pitch so yeah, heā€™s very valuable to the squad.

on his hopes for 2017ā€¦
Just to continue playing 23s, train as much as I can with the first team and just get in the bossā€™ eye as much as I can and carry on the way Iā€™m going.