Arsenal's season seems to be getting worse by the week in 2025, with key players succumbing to injuries and Liverpool pulling further away at the top of the Premier League. But an overwhelming positive of an otherwise underwhelming campaign has been the success of Hale End, both in the first team and for the academy teams.
A combination of injuries and a lack a recruitment have left Mikel Arteta with little option but to turn to his academy, but both Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri have filled their roles admirably.
Of course the teenagers will make mistakes; Myles Lewis-Skelly's red card against West Ham at the weekend was a reminder of that.
But with performances of the sort both Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri have consistently been putting in, it's worth giving the teenagers the platform to learn from their mistakes.
It's not just the first team benefitting from the fantastic work of the Gunners' Hale End academy; the U21s and U18s teams have both been flying for Arsenal.
There were positive signs for the youth set-up at Arsenal right at the start of the season, with four wins from four in the Premier League 2 and a Carabao Cup tie against Bolton which saw six academy graduates earning their first starts for the club.
It's not just the current generation living up to their potential in North London either; those who have recently progressed from the Hale End development teams into the fully-fledged academy sides at Sobha Realty Training Centre have been thriving.
Arsenal's U21s have been slightly hampered with several of their regulars having to make up the numbers in the first-team squad. That being said, Mehmet Ali's side have won three of their last four games to virtually guarantee a Premier League 2 playoff spot.
Adam Birchall's U18s side have been even more impressive; the young Gunners have reached the FA Youth Cup quarter-finals off the back of a six-match winning run, all while having to constantly swap players between themselves and the U21s.
This run is made even more impressive by the fact that such a young group had to go through a manager change when Jack Wilshere left to take up a coaching role at Norwich City.
A run to the FA Youth Cup final would be a fantastic way to cap off a truly special season for the Gunners' youth teams.
Early Opportunities
Arsenal started the season with a full cohort of players available to Mikel Arteta's first team, allowing Mehmet Ali the same luxury of picking from his whole squad of U21s players.
With a full squad, there's no doubting that Arsenal's is one of the most dangerous squads in the Premier League 2. The Gunners won their first four league games and beat League One Leyton Orient away from home in the EFL Trophy.
So when their first Carabao Cup draw of the season handed the Gunners a favourable home time against Bolton Wanderers, Mikel Arteta didn't hesitate to give a deserved opportunity to some of his academy players.
Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri made their first senior starts having come off the bench earlier in the season; goalkeeper Jack Porter and Josh Nichols also started to mark their first ever professional games.
The Gunners ran away with the tie, largely thanks to a double from Ethan Nwaneri, and so Mikel Arteta, pleased with what he'd seen from the young team that had started the game, handed further debuts to Maldini Kacurri and Ismeal Kabia.
It was a night of celebration for the Gunners, not really because of the 5 - 1 victory over the League One side, but more because it was a sign that there are plenty of future starts coming through behind the now talismanic Bukayo Saka.
Injuries Hit
Arsenal's fantastic start to the season quickly faded with a plethora of defensive injuries. Ben White, Jurrien Timber, Riccardo Calafiori, Gabriel, Takehiro Tomiyasu and even academy replacement Myles Lewis-Skelly all suffered injuries before the season was three months old.
The need to move young defenders a couple of steps up the chain made life difficult for both academy sides. The U21s crashed out of the EFL Trophy after defeats to MK Dons and Colchester United in a run of just one win in 10 either side of Christmas.
At the same time that the U18s were having to bring up development players to cover defensive positions, Jack Wilshere left for a first-team coaching role at Norwich City.
Wilshere's former assistant Adam Birchall took over and, after a tough start that can quite easily be put down to the number of inexperienced players in the squad, the new manager found his feet.
Birchall Leads Recovery
Since the start of December, the U18s have six wins from seven, including a six-game winning streak which came to an end last weekend with a narrow 3 - 2 defeat to Brighton.
The winning streak included three FA Youth Cup successes, beating Hertford Town and Fulham either side of a dramatic penalty shoot-out win over QPR.
With Birchall getting the best out of some of the very youngest players in Arsenal's youth set-up, the U18s players who had moved up to the U21s began to settle and find their feet.
U21s defenders Zane Monlouis and Maldini Kacurri both left the club in January, allowing the likes of Brayden Clarke and 16-year-old Marli Salmon to step up.
Since returning from a mid-season break in Dubai, Mehmet Ali's U21s have won three from four, scoring eight goals in the process.
Midfielder Salah Oulad M'Hand and striker Khayon Edwards have been decisive in these games, with Salah pulling the strings in the middle of the park and Edwards netting four times in his last five games.
An altogether fantastic month ends with a blockbuster Youth Cup tie against Manchester United, where the home advantage could be key.
Youth Cup Showdown Chance for U18s to Shine
It's long been a feature of the FA Youth Cup that the later rounds are played in the main stadiums.
Arsenal and Manchester United, who meet at the Emirates on Friday night, have both hosted the final in recent years.
Home advantage for Arsenal is key not just because their players get to play at the ground they've always dreamed of playing at, but also because it gives the Gunners scheduling control.
This means that, with the U21s going to Crystal Palace on Monday night, they can theoretically deploy some players in both Monday's Premier League 2 game and Friday night's Youth Cup tie.
While Arsenal have pretty much all of their first-team attackers out injured, the majority of midfielders and defenders are fit. This means that Adam Birchall will have every player at the club who is under 18 available for Friday's tie, bar Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly.
Even Lewis-Skelly however could potentially be available; having been suspended for Arsenal's 0 - 0 draw with Nottingham Forest on Wednesday night, the next game for the 18-year-old would be against PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday night. Playing Friday and Tuesday is certainly not out of the question.
Whatever happens on Friday night, the success of Arsenal's academy teams this season have provided a welcome reprieve from the stresses of the first team's struggles.
Stars like Salah and Edwards as well as Andre Harriman-Annous and Max Dowman in the U18s are giving the Gunners plenty of hope for the future.
The challenge now for Arsenal is to hold on to them. Had Manchester United not suffered so many injuries, Ayden Heaven and Chido Obi-Martin, both of whom have left Hale End for Carrington in the past year, could've been in the Red Devils' squad.
Comments