Arsenal blow Wigan away

I said I was excited to see Carlos Vela – and he didn’t disappoint, scoring a superb goal, Arsenal’s third, as their youth team played Wigan off the park. Jay Simpson, Millwall’s player of the year last season, was also excellent, netting the other two. Another highlight from the game was Lukas Fabianski’s brilliant double save, the second, from Amr Zaki, truly breathtaking.

The average age of the Arsenal team was just 18.7, and we will be seeing a lot more of a lot of them. Wenger has moulded another great side – it just happens to also be their youth side.

A few posts below I laud Arsene Wenger as a visionary and a dreamer, a footballing romantic, and that was evidenced again here. It appears Arsenal have one fluid, attractive, gifted, beautiful footballing side capable of finishing in the top 4 – and a whole other one capable of beating decent Premiership sides such as Wigan.

But what is the use of a reserve side who are that good if your first team are losing to Hull, Stoke and Fulham? Does Wenger care? Brilliant to watch, undoubtedly a fantastic footballing achievement, but further evidence of his flawed genius.

Elsewhere, Stoke’s second string avoided a potential banana skin against Rotherham, and Man Utd’s reserves snuck past QPR thanks to a late Tevez penalty. He was desperate to take it, and it will have done wonders for his confidence.

Derby beat Leeds 2-1 at home, and Watford avenged the weekend defeat against Swansea, winning 2-1 away from home.

All the goals from all the game are, as always, available at http://101greatgoals.com