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 havenāt 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, couldāve 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, weāre glad to get the win and considering we had four weeks off it wasnāt 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 Derbyās 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 Eddieās value to the sideā¦
Heās brilliant. On or off the bench, heās a threat all day. When he starts thereās goals. Him, Stephy, Chubaā¦ whoever plays, weāve got goal threats all over the pitch so yeah, heās 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 Iām going.
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