Fabio Vieira played his first minutes in Arsenal colours as Mehmet Ali’s under-21s beat Swansea City 2-1 in the Premier League Cup at Boreham Wood.
The Portugal under-21 international stepped up his recovery from a foot injury with 45 minutes on a night when Emile Smith Rowe and Cedric Soares also got a runout.
Vieira, wearing the number 7 shirt, looked very at ease playing in an inside right role but rarely felt the need to get out of second gear.
Josh Thomas put the visitors in front rounding keeper James Hillson to slide into an empty net before Joel Ideho showed great composure in the box to equalise.
Cedric then put Arsenal ahead with a fine free kick before the visitors were reduced to 10 men before the break following a late Joe Thomas challenge on Lino Sousa.
In truth, the game was rather flat after the half time removal of Vieira and Smith Rowe but the youngsters made light work of keeping their opponents at arm’s length as Mikel Arteta, Per Mertesacker and Vinai Venkatesham watched on.
The Gunners’ under-21s have hosted a number of first teamers in the last couple of weeks with Takehiro Tomiyasu and Marquinhos also featuring.
It’ll be interesting to see whether Vieira now makes the Premier League squad for the match at Bournemouth on Saturday.
Azeez definately needs to go on loan.
I think they’ll keep it Azeez.
I’ll get my coat.
I think he may get Europa group stage minutes. If that’s not the plan, he should definitely go on loan.
I guess he will get more, some minutes in PL as well.
joel ideho with a ghola-zo
I know it’s just an U21 goal, but, privately, he’ll savor it. His own private ideho.
well maybe someone at least understood the dune joke
I hayt to admit it
B-52s!
Duncan, surely
Our own private Ideho
I’m curious, why are senior players allowed to play under-21 matches?
Keyword: “Under 21”
I’ll assume you were asking that question earnestly, so rather than downvote you, here’s why: every team is allowed to have 3 over-age players in an under-21 match. As for why you’d want to do that, match fitness is the usual reason.
They used to have a reserve league but changed it to the current system quite a few years ago.
Thank you.
Whilst he’s clearly not up to the standard we’d like, I do think Cedric deserves a bit more credit for being so professional. He’s been in and out of the first team, yoyoing between there, the bench, and often turning out for U21s. And yet when called upon he’s there and works his ass off. Yeah he’s had some poor games, but he’s also had some great ones. By all accounts he’s incredibly welcoming to new players, whether new signings or those from the academy, and seems to really just give a shit. I certainly hope players of his level… Read more »
Cedric is the quickest player in the team… when a colleague has just scored!
Saliba is showing a lot of promise in the photo bombing department. He doesn’t seem to have figured out yet who the camera is going to be on right after the match, Cedric is still king of that.
I agree, but I think you’re making it sound like Cedric is sort of a lower-league level player we picked up when we were desperate. The guy was Portugal’s regular right back when they won the Euros. I’m not saying he is now world class or should start ahead of Tamiyasu or White, just that he was never, and still isn’t, somebody far below normal Premier League levels. If anything, this history makes the things you say about his attitude even more admirable.
Have you seen his wife? He’s a happy man, lol.
But seriously, I think having a good personal life is key for this.
I see the same ethic with Mo Elneny. Derives a lot of happiness from his family. Likes being at the club. Puts his shift in.
Similar to Leno.