Arsenal's 2012/13 Champions League Squad | youth round-up

Good afternoon Gooners, sorry for the lack of action over the past week or so. 

Today, Arsenal released their squad for this season's Champions League. The most notable addition is seventeen year old German winger Serge Gnabry, perhaps vindicating rumours he will be fast-tracked into the first team this year. 

Below is the preliminary squad. Please note the so called 'B list' has yet to be confirmed, but will most likely contain the likes of Jack Wilshere, Emmanuel Frimpong and Francis Coquelin, so refrain from freaking out when you don't see those names below!

Goalkeepers: 

1. Wojciech Szczesny, 

21. Lukas Fabianski, 

24. Vito Mannone

Defenders: 

3. Bacary Sagna, 

4. Per Mertesacker, 

5. Thomas Vermaelen, 

6. Laurent Koscielny, 

11. Andre Santos, 

18. Seb Squillaci, 

20. Johan Djourou, 

25. Carl Jenkinson, 

28. Kieran Gibbs

Midfielders: 

2. Abou Diaby, 

7. Tomas Rosicky, 

8. Mikel Arteta, 

15. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, 

16. Aaron Ramsey, 

19. Santi Cazorla, 

23. Andrey Arshavin, 

27. Gervinho, 

47, Serge Gnabry

Forwards: 

9. Lukas Podolski, 

12. Olivier Giroud, 

14. Theo Walcott, 

29. Marouane Chamakh

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Youth round-up

Over the last week or so there has been lots of snippets of news concerning Arsenal youngsters.

Firstly, sixteen year old striker Chuba Akpom has flown to Germany with Noel Blake's England U19 squad, for a friendly against their national side. He has done well in training, alongside the likes of Raheem Sterling (who played against Arsenal's first team for Liverpool last weekend) and James Ward-Prowse of Southampton, and will be looking to continue his remarkable progress in this fixture.

On Monday night Arsenal's U21 side defeated their Everton counterparts 3-0 at Underhill, with goals from Sanchez Watt (two penalties) and Dutchman Kyle Ebecilio, continuing their 100% start to the season. 

Pat Holland's U18 side beat the same opponent 2-1 at London Colney, coming from behind to deservedly take all three points. Captain Isaac Hayden scored a well taken goal, while winger Tarum Dawkins scored a curling effort after an excellent Arsenal move. 

Moreover, Arsenal have announced a partnership with Inverness, in an attempt to offer our youngsters more first team experience by sending them on loan. Striker Phillip Roberts was first to make the move to Scotland.  

Macedonian U17 'keeper Dejan Iliev was brought in, adding further competition to this position in Pat Holland's U18 side. 

Arsenal's U19 side cruised past Marseille in their first Next Gen match of the campaign, beating the French team 3-0. Goals from Nico Yennaris and Chuba Akpom (x2) cemented an exhilarating performance from Terry Burton's youngsters, who face Olympiacos in Greece next in the competition.

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Arsenal U21s continue 100% start to the season with 3-0 win over Blackburn

Terry Burton's side made it two wins from two for the Gunners in the reformatted U21 league. With the first Next Gen match of the year on Wednesday in mind, he made several changes from the team that beat Bolton the previous week, and this time decided to take advantage of the three over-age players rule, with Craig Eastmond and Sanchez Watt starting. Martin Angha came in at right back, and had a very good game, while Daniel Boateng partnered Ignasi Miquel at centre back. Chuba Akpom retained his place up front, but Kris Olsson was dropped to the bench and Serge Gnabry was not involved at all.

In truth, Blackburn offered very little in this game, and James Shea in the Arsenal goal barely had a save to make. Arsenal took the lead inside fifteen minutes through Sanchez Watt's clinical finish, after being played in by a defence splitting reverse ball by 19 year old Chuks Aneke.

The hosts were playing some good football, and were clearly far superior to their Blackburn counterparts. The Gunners' lead was almost doubled five minutes from half time, when Eastmond capitalised on an awful pass by the opposition defender and played in Watt. The forward unleashed a rasping effort which the goalkeeper did well to palm away, only for the ball to fall at the feet of Aneke who, with the goal at his mercy, had his shot miraculously cleared off the line by Blackburn's Raheem Henley.

On the brink of half time, however, Arsenal did double their advantage. Conor Henderson played a lovely ball inside the opposition full back to the onrushing Angha, whose cross was dummied by Akpom and fell to Thomas Eisfeld, who dispatched confidently. The German clearly has a natural instinct of being in the right place at the right time, and continues his fine goalscoring form.

The torrential weather conditions certainly contributed to the lacklustre second half, and there was little to get excited about. The atmosphere became subdued as news of Robin van P€r$i€'s goal for Manchester United filtered through, but the 5,600 fans had something to cheer about after 70 minutes, when Henderson's long range shot deflected past Urwin in the Blackburn goal.

The fact that sixteen year old Chuba Akpom retained his position up front, forcing Sanchez Watt out wide, is a clear indication of how highly Burton rates him. The forward did well today, playing to his strengths. He held it up, brought others into the game and worked tirelessly, while also threatening with a couple shots. It's only a matter of time before he scores his first competitive reserve goal.

Thomas Eisfeld did well too, again deployed on the right side of midfield. In addition to his goal, the German contributed to most dangerous Arsenal moves, and was at times very difficult to defend against, with his clever bursts of movement. Goalscoring midfielders are revered at The Arsenal, and just as Freddie Ljungberg bows out of the game, we can have another one to look forward to.

Martin Angha was impressive at right back, despite having little to defend against. He acted as an auxiliary attacker to great effect, with several overlapping runs and crosses, including one that led to Arsenal's second.

There's not much else to report really. Henderson did well, and Ebecilio impressed again after coming on as a substitute. Arsenal's U18 side drew 2-2 away to Blackburn, with Jon Toral scoring again, while the U16s drew 1-1.

Next up for Burton's men teenagers is Marseille on Wednesday, in the first game of the new Next Gen series - a match these youngsters will relish.

'Till next time.

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Arsenal squad announced for 2012/13 Next Gen Series

The provisional - and very long - Arsenal squad for the upcoming Next Gen series has been announced. A squad comprising of 18 of the players below will be chosen on each match day. The Gunners will face Olympiacos, Athletic Bilbao and Marseille in group six, and home fixtures will be played at Barnet's Underhill stadium.

I spoke to U18 star Kris Olsson not too long ago and asked him his thoughts on the tournament. This was his response:

To play against the best teams and players from your age group is always good and it develops you as a footballer. To get an experience to play in front of a crowd and maybe TV is also good, so I am really looking forward to it!

I am sure this is the general consensus around the whole group, and the tournament is a big step in the development of these young players. Here is the squad, as listed on the Next Gen website.

Goalkeepers: 

Reice Charles-Cook - 18

Josh Vickers - 16

Defenders:

Zach Fagan (CB) - 17

Elton Monteiro (CB) - 18

Sead Hajrovic (CB) - 19

Leander Siemann (CB) - 16

Martin Angha (CB) - 18

Arinse Uade (CB) - 16

Tom Dallison (CB) - 16

Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill (LB) - 16

Samir Bihmoutine (LB) - 18

Hector Bellerin (RB) - 17

Nico Yennaris (RB, DM) - 19

Kyle Ebecilio (RB, CM) - 18

Midfielders:

Isaac Hayden (DM) - 17

Jordan Wynter (DM) -18

Kris Olsson (CM) - 17

Jon Toral (CM) - 17

Jack Jebb (CM) - 16

Josh Rees (RM) - 18

Thomas Eisfeld (AM) - 19

Serge Gnabry (AM) - 17

Chuks Aneke (AM) - 19

Forwards:

Phillip Roberts (ST) - 18

Nigel Neita (ST) - 18

Alfred Mugabo (RW) - 16

Tarum Dawkins (RW) - 16

Anthony Jeffrey (LW) - 17

Chuba Akpom (ST) - 16

Austin Lipman (ST) - 16

Zak Ansah (ST) - 18

Benik Afobe (ST) - 19