Arsenal fly out for Europa League clash with BATE Borisov with surprising amount of youngsters
Academy stars such as Reiss Nelson, Eddie Nketiah, Joe Willock and Chuba Akpom all flew out from Luton Airport for Thursday's match in Belarus
ARSENAL are poised to field a number of youngsters in their Europa League encounter with BATE Borisov on Thursday.
Arsene Wenger is set to start a mixture of first team players and academy stars after a number of Steve Gatting's U-23 side were on the plane to Belarus.
Prospects such as Reiss Nelson, Eddie Nketiah, Joe Willock and Josh DaSilva - all on the fringes of the Gunners squad - flew out from Luton Airport on Wednesday afternoon.
They were joined by ex-Brighton loanee Chuba Akpom, goalkeeper Matt Macey and midfielder Marcus McGuane.
While Charlie Dragomir and Charlie Gilmour - yet to make their debut for Arsenal - could also feature for the FA Cup champions against BATE.
Mesut Ozil, Sead Kolasinac and Alex Iwobi were notable absentees from training today, with Wenger keeping one eye on Sunday's early fixture against the Seagulls.
The legendary Frenchman said: "We play in BATE Borisov on Thursday night and play Sunday morning at 12 o’clock here.
“So we look at the schedule over the weekend, we think there was some room for us to be different. But we have to accept it and we want to go to Borisov with a team.
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"I will go with a team of senior players and certainly with a young bench."
Oliver Giroud - one goal away from 100 strikes for Arsenal - is set to start, alongside Jack Wilshere who is still striving for game time.
Shkodran Mustafi, Theo Walcott and Mohamed Elneny could all be included in the starting XI, while Alexis Sanchez could drop to the bench.
The North London side are looking for back-to-back wins in the Europa League this season after a convincing 3-1 victory against Cologne two weeks ago.
Goals from Kolasinac, Sanchez and Hector Bellerin ensured all three points against the Germans as they came from behind to win at the Emirates.