Arsenal suffer injury scare ahead of Manchester United Youth Cup clash | OneFootball

Arsenal suffered a worrying injury scare during Saturday’s u18 match against Brighton, with in-form winger Louis Zecevic-John forced off in the first half.

Photo via Zecevic-John on Instagram

Last weekend, Arsenal u18 duo Dan Casey and Louis Zecevic-John starred in a big win over Southampton. Casey scored a hat-trick, whilst Zecevic-John scored one, assisted three, and was even heavily involved in the fifth goal.

Casey was rewarded with his u21 debut on Friday, but Zecevic-John stayed with the u18s for a match against Brighton as they prepared for their FA Youth Cup quarter-final fixture against Manchester United next Friday.

Sadly, those preparations did not go well, with Zecevic-John forced off in the 23rd minute with Arsenal already 1-0 down.

Photo via Zecevic-John on Instagram

The Gunners ended up losing the match 3-2, and there will now be concerns over whether Zecevic-John will be fit to play in the Youth Cup quarter-final at the Emirates Stadium next week.

The one positive on that front is that substitute Brando Bailey-Joseph scored against Brighton after coming off the bench.

Bailey-Joseph has been involved in first-team training with Arsenal recently, and if Zecevic-John is out, he’ll need to be the one to step up on Friday.

For what it’s worth, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ethan Nwaneri, and Chido Obi are all eligible for the tie for their respective clubs, but it seems unlikely they’ll be available given their first-team commitments.

Arsenal u18 lineup vs Brighton

Porter, Murisa, Onyekachukwu, Chapman, Ismail, Ibrahim, Copley, Casey, O’Neill, Harriman-Annous, Zecevic-John

Substitutes

Bailey-Joseph (for Zecevic-John, 23), Ogunnaike (for Ismail, 46), Oyetunde (for Harriman-Annous, 53), Marciniak (for Casey, 60), Ranson

What’s next?

Arsenal play Manchester United in the FA Youth Cup quarter-finals at the Emirates Stadium on Friday, February 28th at 19:00 GMT.

The young Gunners then return to league action with derby matches against Spurs on March 8th and Chelsea on March 11th, so it’s a big few weeks for the team.