Arsenal may not be known for picking up silverware year after year, but the one thing they can always deliver on is introducing some exciting young players.
Wednesday night’s 1-0 victory over Doncaster provided a chance for Arsene Wenger to rotate his squad, making a total of 11 changes from the side that drew 0-0 with Chelsea.
The League Cup has always been a platform for the youngsters to show off their talent, but with Arsenal in the Europa League this season it’ll act as more than just an audition.
Josh Dasilva, Eddie Nketiah and the highly-rated Reiss Nelson all made their competitive debut for the Gunners earlier this week after making headlines in the Under-23’s.
But their first-team action doesn’t end there, with an away trip to BATE Borisov next Thursday and a few injuries in the team, a place in the squad isn’t a million miles away.
Nelson looks the most likely to feature in the starting XI for that game as he’s thriving on confidence having already bagged a Premier League 2 Player of the Month award.
Nketiah stands as an exciting and agile attacker whilst Dasilva is yet to cement a position down to the ground having already featured at striker, wing-back and centre back during his academy days.
Nevertheless, it’s great to see Arsenal’s youth prospects are still just as promising as when Jack Wilshere and Wojciech Szczesny got their chance all those years ago.
Each of the guys took to social media to react to their competitive debut:
Buzzing to get my first @arsenal start. Thank you for all the support from the fans today. #COYG pic.twitter.com/GU0vK3dkWl
— Reiss Nelson (@ReissNelson9) September 20, 2017
Delighted to make my debut for @arsenal ! Thanks for the messages and support. #AFC pic.twitter.com/rmuqbTR2e8
— Joshua Dasilva (@joshdasilva_) September 21, 2017
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