Ahead of tonight’s season opener, Darren Wassall has revealed that his Derby County’s Under-23s are facing an Arsenal side that he rated as the best his team faced last campaign.
The Rams take on the Gunners at St George’s Park on Monday in their first fixture of the new Premier League 2 Division 1 season, kick-off: 7pm.
Last term, Wassall’s men fell to a 3-1 defeat to Arsenal at home in September 2016, as well as an 2-1 loss away at their state-of-the-art London Colney Training Centre in January of this year.
And although the Gunners finished fourth, Wassall, Derby’s academy director, feels they were the best team his squad came up against during their first venture in Premier League 2 Division 1.
He says that itself is an indicator of how tough a start the Rams face to the 2017/18 campaign.
Wassall told RamsTV: “We were talking the other day, myself, Pat Lyons and Craig Short, about the games coming up and we agreed that Arsenal were probably the best team that we faced last year.
“Now, I know they didn’t win the league – Everton did – but Arsenal had some really good individual talent and some really exciting talent.
“We know that every time we have faced Arsenal it has been a real battle and they are capable of beating anyone on their day with the players they have got in their team.
“We know it is going to be a really tough game.”
That said, Wassall says his Under-23s squad have a number of reasons to be optimistic ahead of their season opener.
Firstly, there is the solid pre-season campaign, in which his players have scored goals aplenty, but secondly, he feels last year’s experiences, in which they avoided relegation following a stunning turnaround in fortunes over 2017, will only benefit them over the coming year.
Wassall added: “We have been very pleased. The players are really fit, they have worked very hard and have taken that into the seven games that we have had over the last six weeks too.
“The players have got enough game minutes under their belts in terms of preparation for when it comes to the game on Monday.
“There have been some really good individual performances, which has resulted in four first team call-ups, whilst the team is really starting to take shape now.
“We had our last game against Burnley last week and they included the likes of Phil Bardsley and Ashley Barnes, who have both played in the Premier League, so that was a good test for our young players.
“In the end, we drew 0-0 and although we didn’t really create a lot of chances, we certainly put in a good performance and we are hoping that bodes well for the first game on Monday when we face Arsenal.”
He added: “Our players have the experience now of having played a year at Premier League 2 Division 1 level and they appear to have really taken it on board.
“Emil (Jakobsen) and Offrande (Zanzala) have started well in front of goal. Kellan Gordon has scored a few too, so we are really pleased with how it has gone.
“The big test comes on Monday, though, at St George’s Park.”