Under-21s Take Point At Arsenal In Premier League 2

Everton Under-21s and Arsenal Under-21s played out a goalless Premier League 2 draw at Boreham Wood on Friday evening.

It was a game of few chances and neither side can say they deserved anything other than a share of the spoils.

The result means the young Blues extend their unbeaten run to four matches across all competitions, having previously picked up impressive wins over Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City and RB Leipzig.

The first half was a thoroughly scrappy affair with neither side really looking likely to break the deadlock.

Midway through it, Josh van Schoor saw his shot saved by Tommy Setford and at the other end George Pickford did really well to push away an effort from Demaine Agustien after some excellent approach play from Theo Julienne.

Kingsford Boakye created a chance for himself with a good turn of pace, but Setford stood tall again and made the block.

Ten minutes before the break, Malik Olayiwola combined with Braden Graham but the ball took a bounce just as the former struck it and the effort sailed over the bar.

Pickford then did well again to dive low and gather a dangerous looking centre from Evan Mooney.

Neither keeper had a save to make during the opening 25 minutes of the second period, until Pickford had to stop an angled drive from Brando Bailey-Joseph. That came after Francis Gomez had skied an effort from the edge of the box following fine work on the right by Odin Samuels-Smith and Boakye.

On 75, Agustien rifled a shot straight at Pickford and then some eye-catching trickery from Benjamin deserved a better reward than Arsenal scrambling the ball to safety.

After huffing and puffing for the entire game without reward, both sides could have nicked it in the final minute of added time.

Agustien’s effort for the Gunners took a deflection and was arrowing towards the top corner when Pickford somehow clawed it away, and then substitute Ray Robert’s header with literally the last touch of the game nestled on the roof of the net.

Speaking after the game, Everton head coach Paul Tait said: "Both teams didn’t have enough quality in the final third of the pitch but in terms of the players’ development, it’s not always about that cutting edge or final-third play.

"Sometimes it’s about digging in and defending your box well to make sure you don’t concede. We weren’t at our best tonight, not at the heights we’ve hit for the past six or seven games, but I was delighted at the way the boys grafted and got a result.

"We had six attackers on at the end, so it wasn’t for the want of trying. We had that chance at the end and young Ray was unlucky. He’s with us for the first time. But 0-0 away at Arsenal isn’t the worst result in the world."