Arsenal Reserve/Youth Roundup

Ok, well I`ll start with the bad news in today`s roundup of the Young Guns. Arsenal "reserves" were beaten 3-0 at home by Tott***am reserves on Monday.

Before the spu*s fans reading this get too excited, I`d like to point out that it was one of the youngest reserve sides I have ever seen.

It was comprised primarily of academy players as Wenger rests most of the usual reserve side ahead of their League Cup Semi Final first leg.

The majority of the players were just 17-years-old while the most senior members of the team were goalkeeper Vito Mannone and Jay Simpson (both 18).

So I would suggest you calm down spu*s fans, take a deep breath and look at how well your 'proper` team are doing.

The youth team are doing pretty well at the moment. They`re through to the fifth round of the FA Youth Cup and doing well in their league.

The Young Gunners drew Bristol City at home. The game will be played at Underhill Stadium, Barnet on Friday 2nd February at 7.00PM

Now some better news for Arsenal fans. We have been known as a French team, a bunch of foreigners and some slightly less pleasant names over the years but Arsenal are starting to reap the rewards of having the best youth academy in England.

After finding it necessary to bring youngsters from all over the world over the last 10 years, Wenger has finally managed to find some English players that understand the meaning of technical football. Defender Moses Barnett, midfielder Henri Lansbury and striker Rhys Murphy have all been called up to the England U17 squad for a friendly tournament next month.

Other English youngsters are showing promise including Jay Simpson, James Dunne, Jay Thomas and Cedric Evina are all showing great promise. We just hope that they don`t follow in the footsteps of David Bentley, Matthew Upson, Steve Sidwell and Jermaine Pennant.

Meanwhile, another promising Englishman - Mark Randall says that Arsenal`s reserve side can win the League Cup.

Speaking to Arsenal.com Randall said: "It was a great experience at Anfield.

"Just taking in the atmosphere and watching the game was great. It showed once more that the manager likes to give the young players a chance and that he has trust in us.

'That`s a big thing for me because without trust we wouldn`t have the belief in ourselves.

"I`m hoping to get another chance. I`m happy just to be on the bench but obviously I`d love to come on.

"I think we`ve got a great chance.

"If we can beat Liverpool we can beat most teams. We`ve just got to keep playing the way we have been. Tottenham will go for it and put out a strong team and they`ll want to beat us. But don`t think we won`t want to beat them too.

"We want to get to the Final and we know we can win it this year."

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