Three members of Arsenal’s u18 FA Youth Cup side joined the first team in training on Saturday, ahead of the West Ham United match.

The Arsenal u18s took on West Ham United in a league fixture on Saturday, in a dress rehearsal for the FA Youth Cup final later this month. But a number of players from Jack Wilshere’s side were unavailable.

Seven players from Wilshere’s cup semi-final side were absent on Saturday, with Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ethan Nwaneri, Bradley Ibrahim, and Amario Cozier-Duberry all missing because they’d played for the u21s the previous night.

As for Reuell Walters, Lino Sousa, and Michal Rosiak, the trio missed out on the u18 game to take part in first-team training.

The chance to play for the u21s or train with senior Premier League stars is certainly worth missing an u18 game for, even if it did leave Wilshere a bit short-staffed.

The trio also may have been needed for first-team cover, with Arsenal’s defensive injuries at the moment.

William Saliba and Takehiro Tomiyasu are out, and some Arsenal fans noticed that there was no sign of Oleksandr Zinchenko or Kieran Tierney in training photos at the weekend.

It’s very possible Zinchenko and Tierney just weren’t in the photos, or that the Arsenal media team were trying to play mind games with West Ham, but it’s no bad thing to have alternatives available anyway.

Walters, Sousa, and Rosiak are all defenders, with Walters capable of playing at right-back or centre-back, Sousa most comfortable at left-back, and Rosiak proving one of the stars of Arsenal’s Youth Cup run at right-back.

Despite playing in a back four, Rosiak has four goals in five games in the cup run to the final.

Given the first-team absentees, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see one or two of the u18 trio in the first-team squad against West Ham on Sunday afternoon.