Arsenal’s UEFA Youth League fixtures and who will be in the U19 squad this season?

After three successive group stage exits, Arsenal U19s will be hoping that this will be the season in which they finally make significant progress in the UEFA Youth League.

The young Gunners will be competing in the competition for the third year in a row due to the fact that the first-team are participating in the Champions League.

Arsenal’s record in the competition doesn’t make for the best reading, with their standout performance coming in the tournament’s first season in 2013/14, when they were eliminated by Barcelona in the quarter-finals.

There has been much work behind the scenes to try and improve Arsenal’s performances at this level, including arranging a friendly against Monaco II this summer in which Arsenal’s U21 team prevailed.

Who will Arsenal U19s play against?

Arsenal U19s’ fixture list for the league phase mirrors the first six fixtures of the first-team’s schedule.

Therefore, they will play:

September 16th – Athletic Bilbao (A)

October 1st – Olympiacos (H)

October 21st – Atletico Madrid (H)

November 4th – Slavia Prague (A)

November 26th – Bayern Munich (H)

December 10th – Club Brugge (A)

Who will the coach be for Arsenal U19s?

It remains to be seen who will coach Arsenal in the tournament this season. Max Porter was in charge of the squad last season but he is now coaching the U21s.

Which players will feature in the UEFA Youth League?

Given that they will have a lot of players available to them, it is difficult to determine exactly who will feature for the U19s in the competition this season.

Teams have to submit an initial list of 40 players, of which at least four must be goalkeepers.

Players are eligible to feature if they were born after January 1st 2007. Any player who features in three Champions League games this season is no longer eligible to play in the Youth League.

Up to five players born after January 1st 2006 are allowed to be included as overage players, with three allowed to be included in each matchday squad.

In each matchday squad 14 of the 20 spaces are reserved for players who have been at the club for at least two years.

With regards to overage players, it appears that Arsenal will have to choose five of the following:

Tommy Setford, Louie Copley, Harrison Dudziak, Seb Ferdinand, Cam’ron Ismail, Osman Kamara, Lucas Nygaard, Josh Nichols, Daniel Oyetunde and Will Sweet.

Other players that are eligible include (players with a * have not been at the club for at least two years):

Brayden Clarke*, Marcell Washington*, Max Dowman, Demiane Agustien*, Sam Chapman, Andre Harriman-Annous, Ife Ibrahim, Theo Julienne, Alex Marciniak, Josh Ogunnaike, Ceadach O’Neill*, Samuel Onyekachukwu, Jack Porter, Khari Ranson, Louis Zecevic John, Brando Bailey-Joseph, Marley Frohock, Callan Hamill*, Maalik Hashi, Josiah King, Teshaun Murisa, Abraham Owusu-Gyasi, Bowen Phillips, Marli Salmon, Saurap Sampang, Patrick Stachow, Jack Talbot, Josh Tahou, Remi Lupinski*, Kyran Thompson.

U16 players are also eligible to be included in the squad.

There remains some confusion as to whether Dowman will be permitted to play in the Champions League before he turns 16. If he isn’t eligible then it is perhaps possible that he could feature in the Youth League for some games.

Possible Youth League team

Nygaard

Salmon-Clarke-Sweet-Washington

Ibrahim

Agustien-Copley

O’Neill-Harriman Annous-Bailey Joseph