CHELSEA might not have been able to beat Arsenal when it mattered most, but their Under-21’s exacted some form of revenge on the Gunners when they met on Saturday.
It was a talented young Arsenal side too, which featured the highly-rated Marli Salmon and wonderkid Max Dowman.
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The Chelsea side was one including some top talents of their own though, with Cole Palmer‘s pal Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli featuring alongside Reggie Watson, who started against Leeds in the Carabao Cup just a few days prior.
The Blues’ U21’s boast a good record against their London rivals, having beaten them four times and only losing twice in the Premier League 2, and not losing any of the last four meetings.
The easiest and most recent of which was on Saturday lunchtime, with the West Londoners running out 4-1 victors away from home.
Emulating the shape played by the first team – a three at the back system – it was right wing-back Leo Black who opened the scoring after 14 minutes.
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And with Chelsea leading it was time for the star of the show to step up – Watson.
The 16-year-old midfielder was hooked at half-time in the Carabao Cup win over Leeds, but he didn’t play badly and became Chelsea’s fourth youngest player in history in the process.
It might be a case of too good for the U21’s and not quite ready for the first team.
He scored a brace, one of which was a penalty, to put his side three goals to the good with 72 minutes played.
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But it was all about his second, a free-kick which is becoming his trademark.
With a wall placed to cover the left side of the goal, Watson whipped a powerful free-kick to the side of which the keeper was standing on, completely evading the wall and catching the stopper by surprise to add Chelsea’s third.
James Scanlon, formerly of Manchester United, got the Gunners a goal back with 11 minutes to play, but it was too little, too late.
With last season’s PL2 Player of the Season Shim Mheuka now on loan at Celtic, his CNG replacement has been stepping up of late.
Chizzy Ezenwata spent last season thriving with the U18s, and has now made the step up to play for the U21s, taking his promotion in his stride.
The 18-year-old bagged the last goal of the game, having also scored in their 5-4 thriller over West Ham last time out.
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