Reiss Nelson, Eddie Nketiah, Chuba Akpom and Matt Macey were all in training ahead of Arsenal’s League Cup clash against Chelsea.
The Gunners host Chelsea in the second leg of their League Cup semi-final clash on Wednesday night, and predictably the youngsters were all in training ahead of the tie.
Ramsey and Monreal in full training. Nelson, Nketiah and Macey trained with first-team.
— Jeorge Bird (@jeorgebird) January 23, 2018
Arsene Wenger tends to favour the youngsters in League Cup and FA Cup matches, so it’s likely that we’ll see a handful of Young Gunners start against Antonio Conte’s men.
Of course, I imagine we could also see some experienced stars in the startling line-up.
Wenger put out a pretty strong starting XI at the Bridge earlier this month, which included Alexandre Lacazette and Jack Wilshere. Given that Arsenal have to go all-out for a win on Wednesday night, I’d say the likelihood of the boss putting out a strong team is pretty high.
New signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan was also in training but won’t feature. The 28-year-old is cup-tied after playing 21 minutes for United during their 2-1 defeat to Bristol City.
Arsenal's new number 7 @HenrikhMkh from todays training session. #arsenal #afc pic.twitter.com/3H3evAOXye
— Stuart MacFarlane (@Stuart_PhotoAFC) January 23, 2018
It’s a shame we won’t get to see the playmaker in action this week but those are the rules.
Meanwhile, the likes of Jeff Reine-Adelaide and new centre-back Konstantinos Mavropanos likely won’t be involved as they’re expected to play for the u23s on Tuesday night.
Reine-Adelaide and Mavropanos not involved in today's session. They could play for U23s v Bayern Munich tonight. Akpom was with first-team.
— Jeorge Bird (@jeorgebird) January 23, 2018
Aaron Ramsey and Nacho Monreal were in full training despite there being doubts over their fitness, which is encouraging.