Manchester United u21s hosted Arsenal at Carrington on Saturday in their fifth match of the Premier League 2 season.
With their last two fixtures producing a combined 21 goals, the affair was certain to produce plenty of action and it did just that.
Arsenal took the lead in the 14th minute through Lino Sousa. The left back cut inside of Rhys Bennett and slotted low with his right foot past Elyh Harrison to give the visitors an early lead.
United looked to respond quickly but Omari Forson’s shot from 18 yards crashed off the outside of the post and out.
Arsenal doubled their lead in the 29th minute after their high press forced the turnover of possession and Jack Henry-Francis’ strike deflected off of Bennett and over the reach of Harrison.
The London side added a third shortly after as Sousa was let free to run on the overlap before rifling the ball into the roof of the net for his second of the match.
It went from bad to worse in the 37th minute when Arsenal scored their fourth of the match through a cross to the back post that was knocked back across for Khayon Edwards to tap in from close range.
United looked to fight back before the break though and Shola Shoretire earned the young Reds a penalty after being brought down inside the box. But unfortunately, it didn’t seem like it would be United’s day as Mateo Mejia soared the ball high and wide from the spot.
Mejia made up for his mistake in injury time when he pounced on a lose pass from Arsenal’s keeper and side footed into the open net to pull one back going into the half.
Conceding nine goals in the previous 90 minutes of football, Travis Binnion was sure to have been fuming in the changing rooms and looked to light a fire under the United players.
It almost worked as immediately upon the restart Joe Hugill raced past the Arsenal defenders and looked clean through on goal but a last ditch tackle denied him the chance.
Just shy of the hour mark, Hugill played to Mejia on the right who squared to Forson for an open net finish to make it 2-4.
United were much improved in the second half and created a number of opportunities, Forson in particular was a constant threat for the opposition but good keeping stopped him from adding a second to his tally.
After the match, manager Travis Binnion was displeased saying “my biggest disappointment with the first half was us in possession. We’ve got to be miles better in possession because we’ve given them chances from us having the ball.”
United: Harrison, Kambwala, Bennett (Nolan 59), Aljofree, Murray (Jackson 59), Oyedele, Shoretire, Mejia (Williams 65), Scanlon, Forson, Hugill (Wheatley 79)
Unused subs: Plumley