Petty Hopes U23s Continue Winning Streak At Arsenal

- Ben Petty looks ahead to the Premier League 2 clash at Arsenal on Monday night (7pm kick-off)

- The Leicester City Development Squad travel to north London on the back of three League wins

- City defeated Derby County 5-0 last time around at Belvoir Drive to continue their winning run

- Petty says the Foxes are expecting a tough test of their credentials from the Gunners

City are riding the crest of a wave after wins over Tottenham Hotspur, Reading and Derby County and Petty, the U23s assistant manager, has been impressed by the performances behind their upturn in fortunes. 

An own goal by Rams captain Farrend Rawson was followed by a double from Harvey Barnes, a neat effort from Bartosz Kapustka and Layton Ndukwu’s late curler to set up a 5-0 success against Derby last Friday. 

Petty said: “We were delighted with how the lads played against Derby. Me and Steve [Beaglehole] have spoken about making sure we keep doing the right things. 

"At some point a team was going to be on the other end of a result like that of it just happened to be Derby. 

“Everything clicked and we were much more clinical – which is something we’ve been trying to work on in the past few weeks. The intensity of our training transcended into the game and we looked really strong. 

“We looked at the team afterwards against Derby and there were four scholars starting the match which is an outstanding effort.” 

City U23s have been tasked with combining their domestic league campaign with a host of other competitions, namely the Checkatrade Trophy and Premier League International Cup. 

“They’ve had a great experience in the Checkatrade Trophy against Walsall, Grimsby and Sheffield United,” Petty continued. 

“Also, the standard of the games in the Youth League has been excellent so they’re getting a wonderful experience this year. It may not fully manifest itself until after the next 12-18 months. 

“We’re expecting to have to defend really well. Arsenal will be very comfortable on the ball and are likely to have more possession than us. 

“The confidence in the team is such now that we can go there with positivity and maybe have a go at them. Arsenal came up last year and have a lot of young players in their team. We’re looking forward to it.” 

Beaglehole, meanwhile, was overjoyed by the dominant display against Derby and has challenged his players to continue that form over the Christmas period. 

“I’m thrilled to bits with the lads,” he said. 

"They’ve worked really hard and stuck to the game plan right from the start. 

“We said we wanted to play in their half and take the game to them. We scored first which gives you a good base to play from. There are three points I was pleased with. 

“First was our execution of the game plan, we did that really well. 

“Second was the influence of the experienced players, Matty James and Yohan Benalouane. It was great to see Matty back playing like we know he can, so I was delighted with that. 

“Finally, I was delighted with the younger players, the scholars like Alex Pascanu and Darnell Johnson as well as Admiral Muskwu.”