Tottenham’s Future Looks Bright After U21’s Defeat Arsenal to Extend Lead

Andre Villas-Boas must believe he has joined Tottenham Hotspur at the perfect time after the club's youth side claimed a 1-0 victory over Arsenal that sees them move eight points clear at the top of the Barclays Under-21 Premier League.

With the first team pushing for a place in next season's Champions League, Villas-Boas appears to have a wealth of young talent at his disposal, with the Under-21 side scoring an impressive 77 goals so far this season.

Now with an eight point lead over Manchester United in the Elite Group, Spurs have a superb record of 16 wins in 25 matches this season and are seemingly proving that they have one of the best academies in the country.

On Monday night they made the short trip to Barnet's Underhill Stadium to face an Arsenal side who have been inconsistent during the Elite stage of the competition.

The young Gunners have just three wins from their 12 league games but did boast home advantage and would have hoped to gain all three points after fielding a number of the side that excelled in this season's NextGen competition.

Serge Gnabry, Chuba Akpom, Nico Yennaris and Isaac Hayden all played an integral role in helping Arsenal reach the semi-finals of the Under-19 Champions League, and they were joined by Francis Coquelin and Carl Jenkinson who both have plenty of first team experience.

However, it was a very young Tottenham side that managed to pick up yet another victory thanks to a second-half goal from French midfielder Nabil Bentaleb.

Spurs also had some first team experience in their side as Tom Carroll excelled in central midfield, while their own NextGen stars in Shquille Coulthirst and Kenneth McEvoy were always a threat.

With more than 2000 fans making the short journey to Barnet, there was plenty of atmosphere for the young players who made sure to demonstrate their ability in front of an expectant crowd.

Coulthirst could have handed Spurs the lead within five minutes, while Ceballos and Bentaleb were both denied thanks to superb saves from Arsenal goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.

Spurs were left frustrated after the first half but had to wait just 12 seconds before Bentaleb turned home a wonderful ball from exciting winger McEvoy to hand his side all three points.

With a number of young players having been sent out on-loan, Villas-Boas will be pleased to see there is still some depth to his youth squad with former Manchester United defender Zeki Fryers another outstanding player on the night.