
Arsene Wenger kept his policy by including a bench full of Reserves and Youth players for the final game of the season, for the trip to Teeside to take on Roy Keane’s Sunderland. The surprising news ahead of kick off was Kieran Gibbs was left out with a suspected injury, he was replaced by Reserves skipper Håvard Nordtveit.
Top scorer Nacer Barazite was also included alongside stopper Vito Mannone, winger Armand Traore and the fore mentioned Mark Randall.
The Confirmed Arsenal Team
Fabianski
Djourou - Senderos - Song - Clichy
Eboue - Denilson - Gilberto (c) - Walcott
Bendtner - Adebayor
Subs - 40. Mannone, 35. Nordtveit, 30. Traore, 36. Randall, 43. Barazite
Mark Randall was nearly involved with just three minutes gone, as Emmanuel Eboue had his ankle kicked out. After being taken of on a stretcher Eboue it seemed could not continue and Randall was warming up. However shortly afterwards he returned.
Sunderland has some nice early touches, and two free kicks which were eventually wasted. But then Arsenal stepped up the tempo and bagged the opening goal. Gilberto picked the ball up in the centre of midfield and poked it inside the Sunderland back line, Walcott raced on to it and as Martin Fulop advanced Theo clipped the ball beyond him to give Arsenal a 24th minute lead.
The second half was a more relaxed affair between the two sides, and at times it seemed both sides had half an eye on the summer break. But following a mix up between Danny Collins and goalkeeper Marton Fulop Arsenal won a free kick from just 6 yards out.
Bendtner, Adebayor, Walcott and Gilberto all stood over it, with the latter coming up and smashing it well wide of the target in a bizarre incident. Then Pat Rice signaled two changes for the Gunners.
Mark Randall > Nicklas Bendtner (81)
Armand Traore > Emmanuel Eboue (81)
The TV commentators then made jokes about Randall’s hair cut even saying it looks like it was cut with a knife and fork! haha. Walcott pushed up front with Randall on the right wing, and Traore taking the position the left flank.
Mark and Traore had one or two touches as the tempo edged out and the game drew to a close. Arsenal controlled the ball towards the end of the game, with a flowing passing move involving Randall, Gilberto, Denilson, and Walcott. Arsenal first goalscorer then toe poked the ball through to Randall who slotted beyond the goalkeeper, only for the referee to give it as offside. It would have been the perfect reward on his Premiership debut.
With minutes left the Gunners searched for another goal, Walcott and Denilson played a neat 1-2 who fed Adebayor. Then Randall was brought into the play in midfield, and was not daunted by the atmosphere and struck a powerful drive which Marton Fulop grabbed.
Lukasz Fabianski was particularly impressive, he was sharp of his line and made several decent stops to deny Sunderland an equaliser. But the referee blew for full time.
An impressive 9 minutes plus three minutes of injury time for Traore and Randall, with the latter showing signs he could be a real prospect for the club. In other news Jay Simpson looks set to leave the club during the summer transfer window.
Article By - J.Sanderson