Jack Wilshere, Olivier Giroud and Shkodran Mustafi join host of young guns as Arsenal jet to Belarus

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James Benge27 September 2017

Charlie Gilmour and Vlad Dragomir were among the most notable youngsters boarding Arsenal’s flight ahead of their Europa League tie in Belarus.

They were not the only young guns to make the journey, with Chuba Akpom, Eddie Nketiah, Reiss Nelson, Joe Willock, Matt Macey and Josh DaSilva also in contention to feature in the Europa League tie at BATE Borisov.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger said he would name a “young bench” as Arsenal battle what he termed a “cruel” fixture list that has handed them three games in six days.

To add to what would already be a daunting run of games Wenger’s side have been handed a 2,800-mile round trip to Barysaw, home of Belarussian champions for the last 11 years BATE.

Wenger is likely to name a similar side to that which secured a 3-1 win over Cologne in the opening round of fixtures, in which Jack Wilshere made his comeback from a broken leg and Theo Walcott started. Both were on the plane along with the more youthful elements of the Arsenal squad.

Whilst the likes of Nelson and Willock are increasingly familiar figures in Wenger’s squad both Gilmour and Dragomir are less regular presences in the Arsenal first team.

Gilmour, an 18-year-old defensive midfielder, has made only one Premier League 2 appearance for the Arsenal Under-23s this season whilst playmaker Dragomir has featured more prominently at youth level since his £100,000 move from Romanian side Timisoara two years ago.

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