Welsh wonderkid makes Arsenal U18s debut in victory over Crystal Palace

Arsenal U18s recorded their second victory in the U18 Premier League this season after beating Crystal Palace 2-0 at the Sobha Realty Training Centre on Saturday.

They secured their first victory of the campaign with a 1-0 victory over Southampton last weekend.

Welsh wonderkid Axel Donczew joined from Cardiff City this summer made his debut for Josh Smith’s side in the fixture.

Palace were the first to threaten when Raihaan Anderson forced Remi Lupinski, who was making his first league start, to make a close-range save.

Arsenal responded positively with Jayden Maghoma coming close to breaking the deadlock at the other end, but he was denied by Lucca Benetton.

Benetton could not prevent Emerson Nwaneri from breaking the deadlock on 33 minutes. Maghoma set up the 16-year-old winger, who picked out the bottom corner, scoring his second league goal of the season.

Arsenal should have doubled their lead before the break when Maalik Hashi combined with Callan Hamill, but Hashi dragged his effort wide.

Arsenal began the second half strongly in search of a second goal. Their first big chance came when Nwaneri and Hashi combined to pick out Luis Munoz, but the 14-year-old could not hit the target.

Donczew came on just after the hour mark, replacing goalscorer Nwaneri. Joshua Sesay also replaced Hashi at the same time.

It was Hamill who sealed the victory for Smith’s side in the 84th minute, rifling his shot into the top corner from the edge of the penalty area.

The result moves Arsenal to the top of the U18 Premier League South standings, collecting seven points from five games.

They will be looking to make it a third consecutive victory when they travel to Norwich City last Saturday.

The post Welsh wonderkid makes Arsenal U18s debut in victory over Crystal Palace first appeared on ArsenalNews.co.uk.