Arsenal’s u23s fielded a largely changed side against Swansea, and ended up losing the match 3-1, with late goals cancelling out a Charlie Gilmour equaliser.

Once again, Arsenal’s u23s were instructed to leave a number of their star players out on Monday so they would be available for Thursday’s Europa League match.

Eddie Nketiah, Reiss Nelson, Matt Macey, Josh Dasilva, Chuba Akpom, Jordi Osei-Tutu and Joe Willock were all rested, and a number of u18 players took their place.

The team that ended up taking to the field had never played together before, and went 1-0 down to a George Byers goal in the first half. In the second period, Vlad Dragomir was brought down in the area, Charlie Gilmour stepped up to bring the Gunners level.

Smith Rowe, Dragomir and John-Jules all had chances to take the lead, but after failing to make the most of them Swansea punished the young side. Byers scored again and Gorre added another to make it 3-1.

At the start of the season the young Gunners were one of the fastest teams out of the blocks, winning four out of their first five games and sitting second in the table. However, the first-team call ups have taken their toll, and the u23s have only won one league game since.

You could see the difference in the Premier League International Cup, when a stronger side was fielded and Reiss Nelson scored to give the team a 1-0 win over defending champions FC Porto B.

So Arsenal are sacrificing some games at youth level, but the reward could potentially be massive, considering the amount of experience the young players will gain. That’s what’s important really.

Line up: Keto; Pleguezuelo, Medley, Omole; Moore, Gilmour, Smith Rowe, T. Bola; Eyoma, John Jules; Dragomir.

Subs: Amaechi (for Eyoma), Balogun (for Omole) Unused: Benson, Burton, Iliev.