Tomas Eisfeld
Thomas Eisfeld in action for the Arsenal youth team last season. [NextGen]

Arsene Wenger has garnered a reputation as a manager who is willing to give academy players the chance to shine in the Arsenal first team. With pre-season now coming towards its conclusion two players hoping to have made a significant impression on the French boss are Thomas Eisfled and Kristoffer Olsson.

The highly-talent duo were included in the first team squad for Arsenal's tour of Asia and are now hoping that they can continue to impress Wenger and show they are capable of competing for a place in Arsenal's midfield.

Eisfeld, a German youth international who began his career at Borussia Dortmund, made his debut for Arsenal last season in the 7-5 League Cup victory over Reading and continued to impress while representing the club at U21 level.

Last summer he was part of the first team squad that travelled to Asia and was duly named Arsenal's player of the tour. He admits these performances gave him a major boost, and despite impressing with the first team again this pre-season, Eisfeld is aware there is plenty more hard work to be done.

"The tour last summer gave me a lot of confidence," Eisfeld revealed in the official Arsenal programme. "I arrived at Arsenal a year and a half ago now, so to do well on my first tour really helped with my confidence to be honest. Scoring a couple of goals was important as it helped get me noticed.

"But to be honest I am just looking at things day by day. I don't even look at the next couple of weeks, I prefer to just work day to day and see how far I can go. I don't have any long-term targets at the moment."

At 20 years old Eisfeld is two years Olsson's senior yet it is the Sweden youth international who has very clear plans about breaking into the first team next season.

Having signed from IFK Norkoping in 2011, the 18 year old playmaker has regularly trained with the Arsenal first team and last season made a total of 33 appearances at youth level.

The talented midfielder was handed game time on the tour of Asia but believes it was simply training alongside more established stars that has helped him the most.

"More and more you feel like part of the group, and that's why spending time with them like that on tour is really good," revealed Olsson after being quizzed on his experiences training alongside the likes of Jack Wilshere and Santi Cazorla.

"Obviously you are a bit nervous at first, but it's easier to play with better players anyway and it makes you a better player yourself the more you do it, so I enjoyed myself. I was hopeful of being involved in the tour this year, so I was really pleased to be selected."

Now Olsson hopes to further impress Wenger during the course of the season as he looks to make his first team debut for the club.

Quizzed on his ambitions for the upcoming season, Olsson said: "Maybe to get in to the Capital One Cup team, and from then on you never know. I just want to keep playing and hopefully get some games in the cup and see how it goes."