Arsenal under-23s: Stephy Mavididi, Reiss Nelson, Kaylen Hinds and Chris Willock strike to down Sunderland 4-0
David Moyes shown Black Cats future may not be bright
ARSENAL’S kids gave beleaguered Sunderland manager David Moyes a warning of how grim his Saturday could be by thrashing the Mackems’ under-23s.
The former Manchester United boss welcomes Arsene Wenger’s first team to the Stadium of Light at lunchtime with the dark shadow of nine winless Premier League games hanging over him.
Ten would equal the Premier League record for the worst start to a season - and surely be the end of his time in charge - and the dress rehearsal at Boreham Wood was a bad omen for the underfire boss.
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Goals from Stephy Mavididi, Reiss Nelson, Kaylen Hinds and Chris Willock gave the young guns three points in the Premier League 2 hammering. And possibly put into motion the beginning of the end for Moyes.
10 points
- The social life of a die-hard Arsenal fan as grim one. So many of the Gunners traipsed to Boreham Wood on Friday night – prime disco time – they ran out of teamsheets.
- Stephy Mavididi slotted home a sweet Arsenal penalty in the first half, to get the ball rolling. The keeper guessed right but the strike was too powerful.
- It was no real surprise to see a lack of talent in the Sunderland side. If any of them had stood out this season they would’ve been promoted to David Moyes’ dismal squad that is still winless in the league.
- Gedion Zelalem won the Scottish title on loan at Glasgow Rangers last season but he has failed to kick-on this campaign and could struggle for motivation back in the reserves at a non-league ground.
- Football shirt printers all over Wearside will be worried about spelling mistakes if Sunderland’s u23s keeper gets a game in the big time. In Scrabble terms Maksymilian Stryjek is worth 137 points.
- This Arsenal side is a mirror image of their senior group. They control games with ease but seem to find it so easy to stitch themselves up – luckily Sunderland showed little interest in taking advantage.
- Chris Willock's second-half goal was the pick of the punch. His left-foot shot swerved beautifully away from the keeper and into the far side netting to cap off a tasty individual performance.
- Arsenal’s second-half sub Vlad Dragomir might sound scary like a James Bond villain. But even scarier is the fact he was born just eight months shy of the millennium.
- Gunners midfielder Ismael Bennacer is one to watch at all times. One minute he is hitting a 40-yard dippy swerving volley and the next he is thundering into 50-50 challenges.
- Much respect to the middle-aged Sunderland super-fan who travelled down to the game and wore a bright pink away shirt with Defoe on the back to back his side... well, some respect.