7 Arsenal youth players join first team pre-PSG | OneFootball

Seven Arsenal academy players trained with the first team ahead of Tuesday’s match against Paris Saint-Germain, and it’s likely quite a few of them will be in the squad.

Photo via Arsenal.com

Jeorge Bird reports for Arsenal Youth that Michal Rosiak, Jack Henry-Francis, Jimi Gower, Marcell Washington, Nathan Butler-Oyedeji, Tommy Setford, and Alexei Rojas were all involved in first-team training on Monday ahead of Arsenal’s Champions League semi-final first leg against PSG.

Due to Arsenal’s six injury absences and one suspension, Mikel Arteta only has 17 first-team players available for Tuesday’s squad to face Paris Saint-Germain, even including Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri.

Given there are 23 spaces in the Champions League squads, there’s potential for six additional call-ups.

Photo via Arsenal Academy on Twitter

One of the academy players who won’t be involved in the game is Washington, who is still technically just on a trial from Chelsea, and thus ineligible for Arsenal.

It’s possible the other six will all be called up, though it would be strange for Arsenal to include four goalkeepers in their squad. The senior side already have David Raya and Neto, so adding both Setford and Rojas seems unnecessary.

A more likely outcome is that Arsenal leave one or two spots empty on the bench, as they did for the first leg against Real Madrid.

Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images

That being said, there’s no reason to rule out any of the six eligible players. Rosiak, Henry-Francis, Gower, Butler-Oyedeji, and Setford were all on the bench for the second leg against Real Madrid, and even Rojas has made the bench for Arsenal in the League Cup this season.

It’s only a few more hours until the final squads are confirmed now.