Mark Robinson leads his men as they travel to Hertfordshire to take on the young Gunners away from home in a game scheduled to kick-off at 2pm.

With Monday’s loss to Fulham still fresh in minds, the aim will be to draw on the positivity that surrounded the 7-1 victory against Wolves two weeks ago.

Team news

Harvey Vale is still out with a knock so he will not be available and there are some fresh injury concerns to Bashir Humphreys and Xavier Mbuyamba, who will both miss the short trip north.

Besides that, there will be several players vying for a place in the squad for the London derby on Saturday.

Last time out

Our last fixture in the PL2 saw us suffer a 3-0 defeat at the hands of our west London rivals Fulham as 17-year-old Luke Harris grabbed a hat-trick despite the presence of some first team players in the development squad line-up.

Omari Hutchinson and Lewis Hall had two of our best chances in the game, but both failed to convert.

The return to winning ways will be on the agenda as they face a tricky outfit in Arsenal later this afternoon.

Tough fixture

Our opponents today proved to be a tough fixture for us last season as we suffered defeats both at home and on our travels to the side from north London.

The game at Kingsmeadow last year saw us defeated by six goals to one with Jayden Wareham grabbing a very late consolation. Meanwhile, the match away from home was a much more even contest, even though we eventually lost 3-1, with Wareham again our goalscorer in that one.

Leo Castledine contract signing

In other Academy news, Leo Castledine has signed his first professional contract with Chelsea, committing the 17-year-old midfielder to the club until at least 2025.

The midfielder has already made an appearance for the development squad this season, as well as captaining and scoring for the Under-18s team in their opening game of the season last week against Arsenal.