Arsenal Youth preview – U23s face Manchester United

Before the first-team take on Manchester United on Saturday, Arsenal’s U23 side will be in action against the Red Devils’ second string tonight.

The game will take place at Old Trafford and will kick off at 7pm, although at present there haven’t been any suggestions that it will be shown live online.

Kevin Betsy’s side go into the game off the back of three successive draws, and they haven’t played for almost three weeks so there may be an element of rustiness to their display.

The 3-3 draw at home to Manchester City last time out ended any hopes Arsenal had of winning the league title but it is still possible that they could finish second as they are three points behind West Ham United with two games left.

It is likely that Arsenal will be without some of their key players for this game, with Zak Swanson, Miguel Azeez and Omari Hutchinson having all trained with the first-team yesterday after being on the bench at Stamford Bridge the previous night.

One player who is set to be involved is Marcelo Flores, with the youngster, who can play out wide or as an attacking midfielder, having made excellent progress this season. Flores will miss the U23s’ final game of the campaign against Leeds United as he has been named in the Mexico senior squad to face Guatemala.

Defender Omar Rekik could also be involved after making his comeback from injury late on against City. Rekik’s season was disrupted somewhat by his involvement with Tunisia at the Africa Cup of Nations, which made it difficult for him to arrange a loan move in January. It seems inevitable that the centre-back will finally head out on temporary transfer in the summer but before then he will be eager to impress in the final two games of the season.

Arsenal will be wary that if they lose tonight then United will go above them in the table, which should add an extra edge to proceedings.

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Jeorge Bird is the author of www.arsenalyouth.wordpress.com Follow him on Twitter @jeorgebird