Arsenal U21s are competing in the Papa John’s Trophy for the fourth season in succession but they have still yet to progress beyond the second round.
That is something which they will be looking to change tonight when they travel to Portman Road to take on Ipswich Town.
After making it out of the group stages the young Gunners now face a side who are in 11th place in League One, although it is likely that Ipswich will make several changes for tonight’s game.
As far as Arsenal are concerned, coach Kevin Betsy will hope that his team will be considerably more resolute defensively than in the 5-3 league defeat to Derby County last week.
Charlie Patino and Salah-Eddine are both talented players with a lot of potential but it will be interesting to see whether Betsy considers bringing in a more defensive-minded midfielder alongside them, such as Tim Akinola or Jack Henry-Francis, to provide more protection to the defence.
Folarin Balogun, who scored a hat-trick against Derby, is likely to be involved again and he could have a key part to play if Arsenal are to make progress.
It has often been difficult for U21 teams to make an impact in this competition, which is perhaps to be expected given that they are coming up against senior opposition.
However, the possibility of Arsenal U21s eventually playing in the final at Wembley is intriguing and whatever unfolds tonight it should be a very useful experience for Arsenal’s youngsters.
The game kicks off at 7.45pm and will be streamed on iFollow at a cost of £10.
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Jeorge Bird is the author of www.arsenalyouth.wordpress.com Follow him on Twitter @jeorgebird
£10 pounds for an u21 game? What a joke. I will wait the match report
Well it’s a senior men’s team game for Ipswich, all ‘away’ I follow games are £10.
For that price you should get a free Papa John’s pizza delivered to your door.
At that age my face was still like a Papa John’s pizza.
Good win on penalties lads especially from 2 down.
Brilliant result, now to search You Tube for the highlights.