BATE Borisov vs Arsenal: Wenger urges young stars to grab opportunity after resting 10 first-team players

Arsene Wenger has urged the young players in his squad to seize the opportunity when offered a chance after making it clear that the number of chances to impress will be limited at a club like Arsenal.

The Gunners boss has named a number of youth-team players in the travelling party to Belarus where they take on BATE Borisov in the Europa League. The manager has been forced to rotate owing to a tight schedule which sees them play three games in seven days.

Wenger has left behind as many as 10 first-team stars for the game against Borisov in order to keep them fresh for the Premier League clash against Brighton on Sunday (1 October).

Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey, Granit Xhaka, Laurent Koscielny, Petr Cech, Nacho Monreal, Hector Bellerin and Sead Kolasinac are among the players who have not travelled.

Meanwhile, Alex Iwobi, according to the Mirror, has not travelled after suffering a thigh injury. He was one of the players expected to start the Europa League game, but was not spotted in training with the rest of the squad ahead of their flight to Belarus.

Apart from the regular youth-team players, who are on the fringes of the first-team like Reiss Nelson, Joe Willock, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Chuba Akpom, Wenger has drafted in further reinforcements from the club's Under-18 setup, with Vlad Dragomir, Marcus McGuane, Charlie Gilmour and Josh Dasilva also travelling with the squad.

The manager confirmed that a maximum of two young players will start the game as he plans to put out an experienced line-up, but Arsenal will field a young bench.

Wenger has urged the youngsters to make their opportunity count even if they are afforded just 20 minutes of game time in the latter stages of the match.

"This is the kind of job you do not get 10 opportunities to play for Arsenal. When you get it, even if they only get 20 minutes, you have to convince people you have the qualities to do it and you have the courage to play and show your qualities," Wenger said, as quoted by the Daily Mail.

"There is always an uncertainty. We know in training, you see in training that the player has the quality. Yes, he is here because he has the qualities. After, to show it during competition is something different. And in my experience, you only discover that during the competition," the Frenchman added.