U23s Report: Arsenal 3 Leicester City 0

- Leicester City's Development Squad fall to a 3-0 defeat to Arsenal at Meadow Park

- The Foxes were unbeaten in six Premier League 2 matches ahead of the clash

- Eddie Nketiah's hat-trick secured the three points for the Gunners in Hertfordshire

- Elliott Moore returned from injury for Steve Beaglehole's side after three weeks

The Gunners prevailed in Hertfordshire courtesy of Eddie Nketiah’s hat-trick but Steve Beaglehole will be enthused by how his side battled to the very end ahead of the Premier League International Cup clash with Liverpool at St George's Park this weekend.

City went into the meeting in Boreham Wood on the back of three victories and they were boosted further by the return of captain Elliott Moore after a stretch on the sidelines.  

The young centre-back was injured during the abandoned Premier League Cup fixture against Brighton and Hove Albion earlier this month but he returned to Beaglehole’s starting line-up after three weeks away.

Following successive wins against Tottenham Hotspur, Reading and Derby, the Foxes were in fine form but knew they faced a tough encounter with the Gunners on the back of their 2-0 success against rivals Spurs last time around. 

City, who had also kept cleansheets in three of their last five outings, started brightly but had to be wary of Nketiah, the hosts’ striker with 11 goals to his name in the 2016/17 campaign ahead of kick-off.

But it was Vlad Dragomir who worked the first opening, firing high and wide from 30 yards after side-stepping Foxes midfielder Matty Miles in the centre of the pitch. 

Admiral Muskwe was the architect of City’s opening attempt on goal after galloping through the midfield and looking for Kairo Mitchell with a through-ball but it was just too heavy for the young forward to apply a finish. 

It took Arsenal 13 minutes to break the deadlock with a neat, curled effort into Daniel Iversen’s far corner from the angle of City’s penalty area. 

Beaglehole’s side rallied after going behind, however, and could have levelled the score just 11 minutes later when Darnell Johnson attempted a half-volley from Layton Ndukwu’s corner, but it was blocked by Josh Da Silva. 

Chris Willock then went close for the north London outfit after 26 minutes with a powerful drive from 20 yards but Iversen was on hand to make a brilliant finger-tip save. 

Just after the half-hour mark, Alex Pascanu looked for Mitchell behind the Gunners’ backline but Hugo Keto was well placed to get a hand to it at his near post. 

The Foxes were pushing hard for an equaliser and they could have got one seven minutes before the interval when Harvey Barnes tried his luck from 30 yards - but his drive deflected off teammate Muskwe and went behind for a goal-kick. 

Beaglehole and assistant manager Ben Petty made a double substitution at the break, replacing Iversen with Max Bramley and bringing on Dylan Watts for Josh Debayo. 

Nketiah was proving to be a pest for City's defence, though, and he doubled Arsenal’s advantage after the break with another tidy goal, giving Bramley little chance to get a hand to it after 51 minutes. 

The Gunners forward was there again to score his side’s third of the evening two minutes later, seizing on a loose ball before slotting it home from close-range. 

Beaglehole shuffled his pack after 66 minutes with Raul Uche coming on for Ndukwu as City continued to press in front of Keto’s goal at Meadow Park. 

Pascanu was a threat down the right flank and he went close for the visitors when he linked up well with Barnes before firing wide with an ambitious effort from distance 12 minutes from time. 

Moore, who played a full 90 minutes on his return to action, could have got a goal back for City at the end but his firm header was saved superbly by Keto in the dying moments. 

ARSENAL: Keto, Johnson (McGuane 68), Da Silva, Bennacer (Bola 45), Sheaf, Da Graca, Nelson, Zelalem, Nketiah, Dragomir, Willock. 

SUBS NOT USED: Virginia, Malen, Mourgos. 

GOALS: Nketiah 13, 51, 53.

CITY: Iversen (Bramley 45), Pascanu, Wood, Moore, Johnson, Ndukwu (Uche 66), Miles, Barnes, Debayo (Watts 45), Mitchell, Muskwe. 

SUBS NOT USED: Kipre, Bolkiah. 

REFEREE: Robert Whitton.