Under-21s Fall To Narrow Arsenal Defeat

Everton Under-21s suffered a first Premier League 2 defeat in four games as Arsenal Under-21s secured a narrow 2-1 victory in an end-to-end game at The Big Help Stadium.

Aled Thomas' strike early in the second half halved a deficit that two good finishes from Nathan Butler-Oyedeji had inflicted by the break.

The Blues came close to finding an equaliser with Will Tamen, Luke Butterfield and Coby Ebere all seeing efforts saved or blocked right into added time, while at the other end Zan-Luk Leban made several important stops, none moreso than an impressive penalty save from Khayon Edwards.

Leban was one of three changes from Monday's 1-0 win at West Bromwich Albion, in for Fraser Barnsley in goal, with Ebere and Isaac Heath making way for Braiden Graham and Odin Samuels-Smith.

The Blues were positive in the opening stages, playing the ball nicely and winning a series of threatening set plays but without finding a way to trouble Lucas Nygaard in the Arsenal goal.

Indeed, the first chance fell to the visitors in the ninth minute as Marcell Washington’s cross from the byline was met by Salah Oulad M’Hand, but the forward sent his side-footed volley into the ground and then over the crossbar.

Arsenal were able to build sustained momentum from that and duly took the lead in the 16th minute as Oulad M’Hand cut in from the right, running parallel to the edge of the box, and slipped a clever pass into Butler-Oyedeji who took a touch around Leban and passed the ball into an empty net.

The Blues responded well to the setback as Graham twice went close in the 10 minutes after the goal, first hitting the side-netting with a near-post header from a fine Roman Dixon cross, before driving a powerful free kick from 25 yards just over the crossbar.

Leban had to be alert on the half-hour to deny Oulad M’Hand’s powerful effort from distance, shifting his feet well to get across to the ball.

The young keeper was forced into an even more impressive save two minutes later. Winger Ismeal Kabia chased a hopeful pass down the right flank and managed to get onto it just before it crossed the byline, pulling it back across goal to the onrushing Andre Harriman-Annous, who turned the ball at goal only to see Leban pull off an acrobatic one-handed stop to palm the ball away from danger.

Omari Benjamin jinked past three defenders into the box in the 38th minute but pulled his effort wide of the far post with only Nygaard to beat, before slipping a neat ball into Martin Sherif in the box two minutes later. The angle was tight but Sherif did well to get a shot off under pressure and force a smart stop from Nygaard with his feet.

No sooner were the Blues putting the visitors under sustained pressure, Arsenal extended their lead as Butler-Oyedeji won the ball back on the edge of the box and curled an unstoppable effort past Leban.

Everton continued to push for a way back into the game before the break as Benjamin forced another stop from Nygaard in added time before centre-half Tamen towered above a sea of bodies to get his head onto an in-swinging corner but could only direct his effort wide of the far post, the referee’s whistle bringing the first half to a close seconds after.

Everton switched to a back four for the second half and immediately set about reducing the deficit, grabbing one back within four minutes of the restart.

An in-swinging corner from the left was met at the back post by Thomas who saw his initial header saved by Nygaard, but the Wales Under-19s international buried the follow-up by smashing it into the roof of the net from a couple of yards out.

The game opened up from there with both sides threatening, but it was Arsenal who came closest to scoring next. Leban did well to save a free kick from Oulad M’Hand on the hour and minutes later did even better to save Edwards’ penalty, Leban diving to his right but keeping his legs stretched and turning the ball over the bar with his foot.

That spurred the Blues into life and when an Arsenal free kick was cleared, Benjamin hooked a pass over his shoulder to release substitute Ebere down the right. Ebere cut in and jinked inside a recovering defender, but Nygaard stood up well and made a vital stop to deny Ebere an equaliser.

A scramble in the box in the 73rd minute left most in The Big Help Stadium wondering how the Blues had not equalised. As with Everton’s first goal, a corner from the left caused problems for the visitors and after the ball was headed back across, Tamen threw himself at it only to see his effort cleared off the line. A subsequent header from Butterfield was saved by Nygaard and the ball fell to Ebere but a last-ditch tackle deflected the ball over the bar. Ebere would be forced off through injury minutes later.

The Blues continued to push for an equaliser but ultimately could not break down a stubborn Arsenal rearguard for a second time, substitute Butterfield coming closest in added time when he curled a 25-yard free kick narrowly wide.

Under-21s Head Coach Paul Tait told evertonfc.com: "I thought we were poor in the first half, Arsenal were much better than us and troubled us. We’re really disappointed with the two goals that we gave away, especially the one just before half-time which is a killer really. 

"We changed the shape (at half-time) a little bit to try to get to grips with it. We've been finishing games in a back three so we started with it tonight just because of the personnel we had, but it didn't quite work. So we changed it and we were, I thought, better in the second half.

"Fair play to the lads, I thought they fought back and without playing great football we created some good chances, probably the best chances of the second half. We got the goal and got some momentum, then we gave a penalty away so the momentum swung a little bit.

"We've then gone up the other end when Coby’s had the one-on-one with the goalkeeper, had some really good chances with set plays and one with Omari where it flashed across the goal. So yeah, I was pleased with the second half, it was a good fight-back."

The Under-21s are next in action on Sunday 23 March (2pm kick-off) for Everton Stadium's next test event.