Jay Simpson Factfile

Name    Jay Simpson
Born    December 01, 1988
        London
Position        Midfielder
Previous Club(s)        None
Joined Arsenal  August 01, 2005
http://www.arsenal.com/images/players/60262.jpg?t=1

Slick Simpson heeds Henry advice

By Mo Khan

Like many of Arsenal’s young players, 17-year-old < STRONG>has trained with the first-team. Like many of his Under-18 and Reserve team colleagues, the benefits of mixing with Arsenal's big names is showing on the pitch.

The tricky right-winger has made three starts for Neil Banfield’s Reserve team this season, scoring four times. It's clear he is heeding advice from the likes of Club captain Thierry Henry.

“I trained with the first-team three times during the summer,” Simpson told Arsenal.com. “They are so much quicker that you have to think about what you want to do with the ball way before you get hold of it.

“When you step down to the Reserves and Under-18s it’s not as fast but it’s still a great experience to have.

“Thierry has told me to keep working hard in training and it will come out on the pitch. There’s no secret, just hard work on the training ground and it pays off during a match.”

Simpson is certainly making his mark at Reserve team level. He scored twice in Monday night’s 2-1 win over Watford at Vicarage Road as the Gunners went four points clear at the top of the Reserve League South.

“It was a good result for the team,” he reflected. “We’re on top of the league. The most important thing was to win and we put in a good team performance.

“I managed to get on the scoresheet twice and that’s four [goals] in three starts now, so I’m happy. I’m aiming to get in the Carling Cup squad this year and, hopefully, I will have a better chance next year."



[ Tuesday, December 06, 2005]