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Football London
Football London
Sport
Chris Wheatley

The six Arsenal youngsters in line for first-team call up for Crystal Palace clash

Arsenal face Crystal Palace in their penultimate game of the league campaign on Wednesday night, as the Gunners look to stake their claim for European football next season.

Mikel Arteta's side will qualify for the European Conference League next season if they finish in seventh place, a position which is mathematically possible to achieve if results go their way over the next couple of games.

With an almost fully fit squad to choose from, Arteta has been integrating several youngsters into first team training in recent weeks as he assesses which players could be ready to feature in the senior side next season.

football.london takes a brief look at the six starlets who trained at Colney on Monday.

Jonathan Dinzeyi

Position: Centre back

The 21-year-old was released by Tottenham last summer and has previously been capped at England Under-18 level.

He's made 17 appearances for Arsenal Under-23s this season and trained with the first team on several occasions.

Omar Rekik

Position: Centre back

Rekik signed from Hertha Berlin in January and was assured by academy chief Per Mertesacker that he would get to train regularly with the first team.

The talented defender has appeared just once for the Under-23s due to injury problems, but will be hoping that he'll get more chances going in to next season.

George Lewis

Position: Winger

The Rwandan-born winger joined the Gunners last summer on a permanent basis, signing a professional contract after leaving Norwegian club Fram Larvik.

Arteta has previously described Lewis as a player with "huge potential" but he has yet to make a first team appearance for the club.

Folarin Balogun

Position: Forward

After months of uncertainty over his future at the club, Balogun finally committed to a new long-term contract with Arsenal in April.

The 19-year-old has impressed this season in limited first team appearances averaging a goal every 63 minutes in the Europa League this season.

Balogun has been training with the first-team stars (Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

Arthur Okonkwo

Position: Goalkeeper

The highly-rated shot stopper was included in the Arsenal squad to face Olympiacos in March.

football.london understands that the 19-year-old is in positive talks over a new contract extension with the club amid interest from several European teams.

Tolaji Bola

Position: Left-back

Bola spent time on loan at League One side Rochdale earlier in the season, although he only featured eleven times.

With Arsenal's current shortage at left-back, Arteta has been using him in first team training sessions as an alternate option on that side.

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