During Arsene Wenger’s press conference ahead of our match against Bournemouth in the league on Sunday, he confirmed that Danny Welbeck would indeed be starting for the u21s on Friday.

After almost 10 months out, the striker can’t just be thrust into the intensity of the Premier League just yet. Although he’s back in training, he still needs to work on his match fitness and this is where the youth team can be handy in helping to rehabilitate players who’ve been sidelined for a long time.

Welbeck will make his return for the u21s against Brighton and Wenger admitted this won’t be the last time he features for them, considering he needs some time to get back to peak fitness.

“He needs to play two or three games before coming back into the first team, he hasn’t played for 10 months so we need to be patient,” Wenger said.

Wenger’s right. Although the boss is always likely to be patient, since Tomas Rosicky got injured during his first match back after seven months out of action, I think he’ll be especially careful with Welbeck.