6 Arsenal youth players join senior training pre-Sporting clash

6 Arsenal youth players join senior training pre-Sporting clash

Six Arsenal youth players were spotted in first-team training ahead of Wednesday’s match against Sporting CP, with at least one expected to make the senior squad for the game.

Photo via Mitchell on Instagram

Amid the news of six first-team absentees from training on Tuesday, at least six Arsenal youth players were called up to the session.

Goalkeeper Remy Mitchell, defenders Marli Salmon, Patrick Stachow, and Joshua Ogunnaike, defensive midfielder Teshaun Murisa, and winger Kyran Thompson were all involved alongside the available senior players.

Photo by David Price via Getty Images

Salmon is obviously the player with the best shot at making the first-team squad, having already made his debut in the Champions League and featured in three of the last four squads in the competition.

The centre-back was on the bench last week away in Lisbon, and he was withdrawn early during Monday’s u21 match against Crystal Palace, coming off at half-time seemingly so he could be available for the first-team.

That u21 match perhaps took away opportunities for the likes of Andre Harriman-Annous and Ife Ibrahim to feature in senior training on this occasion, despite both regularly being involved in recent months and making their senior debuts this season.

Instead, u18 players like Thompson and Murisa were given a chance on Tuesday.

Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

The fact that most of the players involved in training on Tuesday were either u18s or u21 fringe players suggests they’re unlikely to play any role with the senior team on Wednesday, so Salmon might be the only one involved against Sporting.