Arsenal under-23s fell to a 4-2 defeat against Everton at the Merseyrail Community Stadium in Southport on Monday, writes Joshua Bunting.

It was the Toffees who started the better of the sides as Luke Garbutt had the first chance on six minutes when he ran from deep but fired his shot just wide of the target.

However, Arsenal took the lead as Everton failed to clear a cross and the ball fell to the feet of Marcus McGuane who fired powerfully past Joe Hilton.

The hosts had a good chance to equalise almost immediately as Harry Charsley fired into the side netting, with Gunners keeper Ryan Huddart beaten.

And Huddart then had to be alert several minutes later as he made a fine stop to deny David Henen as he saw a low effort parried away.

Charsely then had another good opening as he skipped away from Arsenal tackles and shot just wide.

But Hilton then made a fantastic save to stop Arsenal doubling their lead on 23 minutes as Charlie Gilmour was played in by McGuane but denied by the keeper’s fingertips.

Vlad Dragomir had another good opening for the Gunners as he latched on to a Tafari Moore cross but headed over.

And Everton were level minutes into the second half as German winger Anton Donker was played through by Bassal Sambou and slotted past Huddart to the delight of manager David Unsworth.

Arsenal started to crank up the tempo and should have been ahead when Moore hit a low shot from range that was well dealt with by Hilton as he turned the ball behind.

However they regained the lead as Dragomir was brought down in the box by Donkor and McGuane drilled the spot-kick past Hilton.

Unsworth’s side grabbed a second equaliser as Garbutt’s corner was headed into his own net by Joseph Olowu.

And Everton grabbed the lead as Antony Evans ran 40 yards before squeezing his effort past Huddart.

As the game drew to a close, the Premier League 2 holders grabbed their fourth goal as the impressive Henen found himself in space and lashed his effort into the back of the net to the frustrations of the Arsenal youngsters.