Josiah King and Kyran Thompson show encouraging signs for Arsenal U18s

It wasn’t a perfect performance for Arsenal U18s as they started the new season with a 2-1 win away to Norwich City, but there were plenty of positives for coach Adam Birchall to take from proceedings.

Birchall made a couple of surprising selections with regards to his starting lineup, with Josiah King, who is normally a right-back, deployed on the right wing, while schoolboy Kyran Thompson started up front despite having mainly been used out wide in pre-season for the U21s.

Both decisions were vindicated, with England youth international King providing an attacking threat which included him striking the post with one effort.

Thompson, meanwhile, demonstrated his excellent understanding of the game as he often dropped deep to link play well.

The victory also emphasised the strength in depth that the U18s possess – something that is sorely lacking at U21 level.

Birchall brought on Ceadach O’Neill, Maalik Hashi and Teshaun Murisa just after the hour mark, with O’Neill and Hashi scoring while Murisa helped to add to Arsenal’s creativity.

In addition, the likes of Marley Frohock, Bowen Phillips, Saurap Sampang and Patrick Stachow weren’t in the matchday squad, with Birchall having a lot of flexibility with regards to his selections at present.

There may come a time when some of the U18s will have to be drafted into the U21 squad but for now Birchall has a strong group to work with and it will be intriguing to see how his team line up when they return to action at home to Southampton at the weekend.