There was a heavy youth contingent in Arsenal’s latest first-team training session, ahead of the visit from Brentford this weekend.

In training photos from Arsenal’s first-team session on Thursday, many of the Gunners’ u21 side could be seen taking part.

Zach Awe, Mauro Bandeira, Catalin Cirjan, Ben Cottrell, Amario Cozier-Duberry, Jimi Gower, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ethan Nwaneri, Salah-Eddine Oulad M’hand, Charles Sagoe Jr, Matt Smith, Lino Sousa, and Reuell Walters all joined Mikel Arteta’s side for the day.

As usual, the chance to join in with the senior players will be an invaluable experience, though it’s unlikely many of them will be involved in the matchday squad on Saturday.

The u21s have their own game to prepare for, facing Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday, away from home at 13:00 GMT.

As well as his participation in training, there was one noteworthy element of Cozier-Duberry’s outfit that caught the attention.

Jeorge Bird pointed out that the winger is wearing his squad number – 85 – on his top, whereas other academy players have “U21”.

Looking at other training photos, you can see that the youth players are all either wearing the light green training top with their squad number, or the white training top (the one the first team wear) with “u21” on it.

Cozier-Duberry is the sole exception, wearing the first-team training top with his squad number on it, just like the senior players do.

Combine that with the winger’s call-up to the senior squad against Everton last weekend, and there’s some justification to speculate about a possible first-team promotion.

It’s also possible that Arsenal simply produced a top with Cozier-Duberry’s number for that Everton trip and he’s been wearing it in training since then.

Regardless of whether the number means anything, Cozier-Duberry’s form for the youth teams and consistent presence around the senior squad point towards first-team chances in the future.