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Much of the focus as Arsenal U21s dispatched of Aston Villa yesterday was inevitably on William Saliba, but the performance of another member of the Gunners’ defence also deserves special recognition.

Marcell Washington is in his second full season at Arsenal following his departure from Chelsea and has amassed over 30 appearances for the club at U21 level.

Although there have been some inconsistent performances at times, Washington appears to have turned a corner recently, as evidenced by the fact that he received his first competitive callup to the Arsenal first-team for the Carabao Cup defeat to Fleetwood.

In pre-season, Washington was overlooked as Josh Ogunnaike spent the entire pre-season with the first-team.

Now, though, Washington appears to have edged ahead of Ogunnaike both in terms of being closer to the senior squad and being called upon at left-back for the U21s.

It has been evident since he arrived at the clubs that Washington has good attacking qualities and such attributes were on display yesterday as he frequently pushed forwards to excellent effect.

The 19-year-old often found himself in space on the left flank and on one such occasion he received the ball from Max Dowman before sending a dangerous cross into the penalty area which was converted by Andre Harriman-Annous.

Washington’s performance in the first 45 minutes especially was one of the best he has produced for Arsenal and that included him controlling the ball superbly under pressure at times.

There are still occasions when the defender can be caught out defensively, but yesterday almost everything that Washington attempted worked out as intended.

A loan move appears to be next on the agenda for Washington as he looks to continue his development, although it remains to be seen whether such a transfer will happen in January.

Jeorge Bird's Arsenal Youth

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