Jack Vale lasted just 22 minutes on his injury comeback as Rovers Under-23s lost their unbeaten start to the Premier League season 2 in an emphatic way against Arsenal.

The striker was making his first appearance since suffering an injury on the eve of the Rovers’ opening pre-season friendly at Fleetwood Town. But the Wales youth international was injured inside the opening quarter and replaced by Sam Burns at Leyland.

That was one of two injuries Rovers suffered in the first half as Ben Paton limped off in additional time, with Sam Durrant on in his place.

That left just Stewart Downing as the only remaining outfield substitute available to Billy Barr, with the new signing included on the bench after his signing on Monday.

Arsenal proved too strong, inflicting a first defeat of the season on Rovers, running out 6-0 winners at Leyland, as Emile Smith-Rowe and Nikolaj Moller both scoring twice from close range.

Florian Balogun claimed two assists, while Tim Akinola in central midfield was the star of the show.

Antonis Stergiakis made his second successive outing for the Under-23s, after his clean sheet at West Ham, and caught the eye with his distribution.

A first half of few clear-cut chances saw Rovers dominate territory early on, with Connor McBride glancing wide a fine Dan Pike cross in the 12th minute, with Sam Barnes then unable to turn home a Lewis Thompson cross at the far post moments later.

Barnes was captain for the night as Joe Grayson and Hayden Carter were both not involved, with possible involvement for the first-team the reason behind their absence.

Balogun was the star of the show when the sides met last season, scoring a hat-trick of penalties, and he felt he should have had another when he went down under the challenge of Barnes after rolling the Rovers captain.

The striker then fired wide on his left foot from a tight angle before teeing up Emile Smith-Rowe with a neat backheel, only for the midfielder to miss the target with his first-time effort.

Arsenal were growing into the game, helped by a fine midfield display by Tim Akinola, and took the lead moments before the break. Balogun looked to be crowded out at the byline, but after managing to hook the ball goalwards, Moller was able to tap in at the far post.

The visitors emerged from the break with a second goal in their sights, Balogun firing into the side netting on his left foot after being teed up by Ben Cottrell.

A second goal wasn’t long in the waiting however, and it was a fine strike from Catalin Cirjan that found it. Moller’s backheel teed up him and the midfield had no hesitation than to shoot first time, his effort finding the net via the crossbar.

It was to be a nightmare start to the half for the hosts as Arsenal added a third in the 55th minute. Caught trying to play out from the back, Jalil Saadi’s attempted pass to Barnes was cut out by Balogun who unselfishly squared for Smith-Rowe to tap into the empty net.

Connor McBride, with five goals to his name already, had a shot blocked on the hour mark, but that was a rare bright moment at the start of the second half.

The visitors had a fourth in the 61st minute, Brooke Norton-Cuffy’s cross finding its way to the far post where an unmarked Smith-Rowe shot through the legs of Stergiakis.

At the midway point of the second half the young Gunners had a fifth, Dan Pike the unfortunate man to put through his own net as he tried to cut out a left wing cross from Joel Lopez.

There would be no chance of a hat-trick for Smith-Rowe as he was replaced by Khayon Edwards with just under 20 minutes to play.

Karl Hein had been a spectator in the second half, but kept his clean sheet intact, getting down low to his right to keep out Lewis Thompson’s right foot effort.

Balogun was repalced with 10 minutes to go, but Arsenal kept coming, Cottrell flashing a shot wide of the left-hand post.

Tempers flared just before the final whistle, with Thompson and Akinola both shown yellow cards after a coming together.

There was time for another Arsenal goal before the end, Moller being played clean through, finding the corner with his shot that proved to be the last action of the night.

Rovers: Stergiakis, Pike, Barnes, Saadi, Thompson, Lyons, Whitehall, Paton (Durrant, 46), Brennan, McBride, Vale (Burns, 23)

Not used: Eastham, Downing