Steve Bould’s Arsenal under 23’s side tonight made the trip to New Bucks Head to face off against Wolverhampton Wanderers under 23’s in the Premier League 2 Division 1.
Friday nights fixture marked the return of 24-year-old Hector Bellerin, summer signing Kieran Tierney and centre-back Konstantinos Mavropanos, who has made seven appearances for the first team.
Arsenal got off to a flying start as striker Folarin Balogun struck after just a minute to make it 1-0 to the visitors. The 18-year-old was denied a second after 36 minutes when he latched on to a short backpass from a Wolves defender, only for Sondergaard to make a smart save with his feet to keep it 1-0 to the Gunners.
Despite some late first-half pressure from the home side, the gunners went into half time with the lead.
Foxes’ Bruno Jordao equalised for the hosts after 56 minutes, beating Karl Hein at his front post. Bellerin and Tierney were then replaced just after the hour mark with the scores level at 1-1.
Héctor Bellerin and Kieran Tierney both completed 62 minutes for the under 23’s this evening. Konstantinos Mavropanos completed 90 minutes. #afc pic.twitter.com/zqA46jtpsZ
— TheAFCnewsroom (@TheAFCnewsroom) September 20, 2019
10 minutes after the double change, Balogun capitalised on a defensive mix-up to restore Arsenal’s lead with a powerful strike. The last piece of action came two minutes in to injury time as Taylor Perry converted a superb pass to equalise again, with the match finishing 2-2.
Overall it was a very pleasing outing for the three first teamers. The Spanish right-back looked his usual self, bombing down the wing and the Scottish international on the other side showed signs of promise with his attacking style of play. With evident rustiness, which is to be expected at this stage of their rehabilitation, tonight’s encounter couldn’t have went much better for Arsenal’s returning full-backs, as well as the Greek centre-back who completed 90 minutes and looked solid throughout.
