Arsenal Vs Coventry: Hopefully Unai Emery was watching

Arsenal’s U21s beat Coventry 3-0 on Wednesday night in the EFL Trophy with some impressive performances from Emile Smith Rowe and Eddie Nketiah. Hopefully Unai Emery was watching.

With League One and League Two clubs voting to keep the same format to the controversial and somewhat unpopular EFL Trophy, formerly the Checkatrade Trophy, Premier League clubs were allowed to enter their youth teams into the competition, akin to Spanish clubs having their reserves in lower divisions like Barcelona B and Real Madrid Castilla.

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Arsenal, for the first time, took advantage of this rule this year, with Freddie Ljungberg, the new U23 and U21 coach, pushing for such a U-turn. On Wednesday night, they played their first match in the competition. Hopefully, Unai Emery was watching.

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Arsenal dismantled League One Coventry City, the 2016/17 winners, 3-0 with goals from Emile Smith Rowe, Eddie Nketiah and Joe Willock, all of which will be pushing for first-team minutes after being included in the summer preseason tour of Singapore.

To his credit, according to Ljungberg, who spoke to James Benge of the London Evening Standard after the victory, Emery and his staff have taken a keen interest in the fate of the youth players:

"“We speak every week, talk about players, what we’re thinking. He’s very open, which helps me a lot. Of course, I have my own way of how I want to play and he never tells me how to do that. But we’re quite similar regardless. I just want to prepare them so they’re ready when they go up to his training <…> He’s an open manager and a nice, respectful man. He always asks how they’re doing. We had a few staff from Arsenal here today to look at them, it feels great for me that there’s interest from above.”"

The journey from prospective youngster to fully-fledged, first-team member is a difficult one. There is a huge difference between youth football and senior football. There are plenty of examples of hugely talented individuals falling short when they are asked to make the step up. So it is important that Emery is taking notice of these players.

Smith Rowe and Nketiah are especially exciting talents. Both impressed in the summer, with Nketiah also being handed some minutes under Arsene Wenger last season, including when he scored two goals against Norwich City to rescue Arsenal in the EFL Cup. But playing in youth football will only help their development for so long.

There comes a point when Emery must commit to these players or deem them short of the required standard. And so, watching games like this, in which they are playing against senior footballers, not fellow youth prospects, are invaluable to his evaluations.

This was a big win for some of these players, perhaps the biggest of their careers. Let’s hope that it can lead to something bigger and better.