The Arsenal u21s pulled off a win against Middlesbrough on Friday, despite many of the team’s star players travelling to Dubai.

The Arsenal first team are currently in Dubai, and Mikel Arteta invited a number of youth players to join them on the trip.

Mauro Bandeira, Reuell Walters, Ethan Nwaneri, James Hillson, Charles Sagoe Jr., Myles Lewis-Skelly, Lino Sousa, Amario Cozier-Duberry, and Jack Henry-Francis are all abroad at the moment, gutting Mehmet Ali’s usual u21 side.

Yet the u21s still had a league fixture to complete on Friday night, hosting Middlesbrough at Meadow Park, giving a chance to some rotation players.

Bradley Ibrahim was one of the players who had remained behind, despite having been called up by Arteta for a couple of Europa League matches last season and a Premier League game in November.

But Ibrahim showed what he can do with an excellent second-half assist, playing the ball over the top for Ismeal Kabia to finish for 1-0.

Arsenal had to grind out the win in a protracted second half, with an injury to the referee leading to 17 minutes of injury time. But the young Gunners managed to keep a clean sheet to pick up the three points.

Arsenal now sit fourth in the Premier League 2 table. As a reminder, the top 16 teams at the end of the regular season will enter a play-off bracket, with the draw determined by your league finish.

A first-place finish earns you a match against the team that finished 16th, second place faces 15th, and so on.

Arsenal are in a great position at the moment, particularly when they’re winning games without their star players.

“We’ve got eight boys that are in Dubai with our first team training and for me it’s an opportunity for younger players to step up and Ismael Kabia took that today,” Ali said afterwards.

“When you’re 1-0 up and playing against a team chucking everything at you, the boys defended well, got some key blocks and headers and also had the bravery.

“We could’ve gone and nicked it and got another goal on transition.

“I just said that to the boys – good win, not our best performance, but really pleased with them.”

Arsenal u21 lineup vs Middlesbrough

Ejeheri, Robinson, Foran, Monlouis, Heaven, Ibrahim, Dudziak, Oulad M’Hand, Kabia, Gower, Edwards

Substitutions

Sweet (for Robinson, 46), Rosiak (for Kabia, 85), Obi-Martin (for Dudziak, 90+7), Kacurri (for Gower, 90+14), Graczyk