The London derby followed a similar theme to a number of our games this season, as despite creating the better of the chances, we ended up on the losing side, making it three on the spin with nothing to show for our efforts.

We started the game positively showing real hunger, and forcing our opponents into early mistakes. Dion Rankine was isolating and beating his defender at will.

As expected, it was from his side that we opened up the scoring with Jayden Wareham finishing well after a Xavier Simons cross.

We were dealt a major blow as we could only hold onto our lead for 3 minutes. In identical circumstances to our goal, a cross from our right side found an unmarked Zach Awe in the six-yard area as he headed home.

We created a number of chances to take the lead, first through Hall and Rankine twice but could not make the pressure tell.

It was more of the same in the second half as we came out with intent, but it was Arsenal who took the lead through Salah-Eddine Ouland. After manoeuvring his way past his defender, he fired a shot which beat Lucas Bergstrom.

A series of changes were made by Myers to alter the scoreline but with our boys in search for an equaliser, Omari Hutchinson sealed the win for the Gunners after a mazy run which saw him beat a number of defenders on his way to scoring. It is another tough loss to take for our young Blues.

Team News

Myers made a couple of changes from last week’s 1-0 defeat to Manchester City; calling on the services of Bergstrom in goal, Rankine, Wareham and U23s debutant Dylan Williams.

Starting fast

There was a good tempo set early on from our young Blues as Rankine’s pace was proving to be a thorn in our opponents. His drive and dink to the far post had to be tipped over by the Arsenal shotstopper Hubert Graczyk.

Soon after, a wicked delivery from Xavier Simons found Wareham who powered a header which beat the keeper but just missed the inside of the post.

After enduring some possession from the North London side, a fantastic delivery from Rankine, who had been causing trouble, found Wareham who slid the ball home expertly. A well-deserved lead.

Lapse in concentration

Naturally after conceding, the home side were on the front foot. A couple of good deliveries into the box were warning signs for our boys of Arsenal’s capabilities.

We failed to heed to those warnings as an unchallenged cross from the left found Awe who headed into the goal without pressure.

End-to-end

We responded with another effort as after two separate deflected strikes from Rankine and Harvey Vale, Ben Elliot had a sighter which comfortably found the arms of the keeper.

We had a great chance to take the lead again as Rankine once again was finding joy on the right side of the pitch. After being released his cutback found Hall but his right-footed shot was straight at Graczyk.

We were almost made to pay for that error. After a scramble in the box, Biereth’s instinctive shot left Bergstrom rooted to the spot but it kissed the post as it dropped wide.

With the half ending, we spurned a three-on-three situation as Rankine delayed unleashing a shot to trouble the Arsenal goal.

Sharp start

The second half began with us in the ascendancy and we capped off our early territorial dominance creating the biggest chance of the game yet. Williams delivered a mesmerising cross which beat all the Arsenal defenders and found Hall at the back post. With the goal gaping, Hall blazed over. After that missed gilt-edged chance there was more possession, but nothing clear-cut to signify our dominance.

Major blows

On the hour, against the run of play, our young Blues suffered a major blow as Ouland produced a fine bit of skill on the left-hand side of the pitch and with no immediate pressure he fired goalwards, beating Bergstrom.

The North London side almost secured their third as Biereth led a charge down the right and after exchanging passes with Hutchinson he could only shoot over the bar.

After a last push from our boys to equalise, it was the Gunners who scored the next goal at the end of an amazing Hutchinson run, where he beat three players and then finished well.

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Lucas Bergstrom; Xavier Simons (c), Josh Brooking, Xavier Mbuyamba, Dylan Williams; Ben Elliott (Bashir Humphreys 82), Charlie Webster (Joe Haigh 68); Harvey Vale, Lewis Hall, Dion Rankine (George Nunn 86); Jayden Wareham.

Unused Subs: Prince Adegoke, Bryan Fiabema

Scorer: Jayden Wareham 15.

Booked: Josh Brooking 6; Xavier Simons 59.

Arsenal (3-4-3): Hubert Graczyk; Mazeed Ogungbo, Zak Swanson, Zach Awe; Reuell Walters, Jack Henry-Francis, Alex Kirk, Salah-Eddine Ouland; Omari Hutchinson, Miguel Azeez, Mika Biereth (c).

Unused Subs: Joel Lopez, James Hillson, Joel Ideho, Nathan Butler-Oyedeji, Marcelo Flores.

Scorers: Zach Awe 18; Salah-Eddine Ouland 61; Omari Hutchinson 90+3.

Booked: Zach Awe 43; Miguel Azeez 75; Mika Biereth 90+1.