By Olaitan Ibrahim
Two Nigeria-eligible teenagers trained with the Arsenal first team at the Sobha Realty Training Centre on Tuesday, August 20 ahead of the matchday two Premier League clash with Aston Villa at Villa Park, as per a report.
Record-breaking midfielder Ethan Nwaneri and Anglo-Nigerian fullback Josh Nichols trained with the first team stars.
The involvement of Nwaneri shouldn’t come as a surprise as Mikel Arteta had hinted that he would be involved with the main team this season.
He missed the U21s victory over Manchester United last Friday as he would be named in the matchday squad for the clash against Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Emirates last Saturday though didn’t participate in the encounter.
Nichols was with the first team during their United States pre-season tour and must have impressed Arteta to get invitations to train with the senior players of the club.
Unlike Nwaneri, the 18-year-old didn’t make the matchday squad for the Wolves encounter as he played for 86 minutes the previous day for the development side.
Arsenal began the campaign with a victory over the Wanderers and will be seeking to make it back-to-back victories on Saturday, August 24 when they face Aston Villa who are being led by their former manager Unai Emery.