It was a case of different strokes for two Nigerian-born youngsters in England, as Joel Ideho got yet another goal for Arsenal’s youth team, while Carney Chukwuemeka was benched for all 90 minutes by Aston Villa in Sunday’s English Premier League fixture.
While Ideho got another opportunity to make his precocious mark with The Gunners in England’s U18 Premier League, Chukwuemeka was named in Villa’s matchday squad, but he did not get ma single minute of action in their 3-1 loss to visiting Manchester United on Sunday.
This is the third time in 2021 that the Nigerian-born England youth international has been picked in the matchday squad by The Villans’ coach, Dean Smith, as he had also been listed against Leicester City and Manchester City – but without tasting action in any.
Megasportsarena.com reports that Chukwuemeka, who has 22 appearances for Villa’s youth teams this season, with 16 games in the English Premier League 2, has impressed in the FA Youth Cup, where he has scored five goals and provided two assists in three games he played.
However, it was a different story on the same weekend for Ideho, as the Nigerian-born Dutch youth international continued his rich vein of form by scoring his first ever brace for an Arsenal team and helped them defeat Aston Villa 5-2 in the U18 Premier League.
Having also set up a teammate to also net during the game, the promising teenager now has five goals and two assists in his last seven matches for Arsenal’s under-18 side, while fellow-Nigerian-born striker, Nathan Butler-Oyedeji smashed home a penalty to put The Gunners ahead.
Arsenal were awarded another penalty on 31 minutes and Ideho made no mistake from the spot and made it 2-0 for his side, but Villa were threatening a comeback when the former Ajax Amsterdam starlet finished from close range to make it 4-2.
Amani Richards then sealed the win with Arsenal’s fifth goal of the game, assisted by Ideho, who has been involved in 24 matches played by The Gunners’ youth teams this season, including his debuts in the FA Youth Cup, Premier League 2 and EFL Trophy.
