Arsenal Chido Obi-Martin nets four against Crystal Palace

Follow Us Now!

Arsenal Under-18 skipper Chido Obi-Martin scored four times today for the Gunners during their U18 game against Crystal Palace.

Team coach Jack Wilshere had nice things to say after the visitors suffered an emphatic beating (8-3) from his superior boys. The English gaffer said the following to Arsenal.com:

‘The performance was very good. We always knew that Palace were going to cause us issues and I thought we dealt with them really well today. We managed their transition and executed the game plan almost to perfection.

‘We can look back at the goals we conceded and be a little bit disappointed and probably could’ve scored a few more, but to score eight at this level and keep creating chances, keep pushing in the game all the way to the end, I thought the players who came on the pitch made a difference as well, it’s been coming.

‘It’s been a tough couple of weeks where we felt like performances haven’t been that good but then to get the performance and the goals is a really good feeling today.

‘Individually and collectively you have to have personality. Chido for example, scoring four goals, you have to have personality to keep creating chances and drive that throughout the team and then manage transitions by winning duels and coaching each other. I saw a lot of personality out there today which makes me happy.’

Somewhere within the coach’s interview, he took out some time to highlight Obi-Martin’s exceptional input.

‘I’m proud of the team because, for a striker to score four, he needs his teammates, his midfielders and defenders, but it’s the hardest thing in football and to do it four times as an under-16 in under-18s football takes some real personality.

‘Not just that side of his game, his link-up play, the way he pressed and set the tempo for us, he’s developing nicely. There are still things to do and get better at but I’m happy with where he’s at at the moment.’

Below are the players booked for the summarized struggle, according to the Gunners’ website.

Arsenal XI: Porter, Nichols, Heaven, Sweet (Copley 81), Clarke, Dudziak (C) (Julienne 72), Rosiak, Lewis-Skelly, Kamara, Kabia, Obi-Martin

Substitutes (not used): Asemota, Shuaib, Akolbire

Crystal Palace XI: Hill, Jemide (C), Colin, King, Walker-Smith, Marjoram (Dashi 46), Derry, Austin, Mustapha (Agbinone 46), Gibbard (Grante 45), Casey (Redhead 75)

Substitutes (not used): Williams.