Picture from Reading official site

Three Arsenal youngsters have been called up to represent England at Youth level:

Kieran Gibbs, on loan at Norwich City has been named in the England u-19s squad to play Russia on March 25th.

In addition, Tom Cruise and Jack Wilshere are both in the England u-17 squad for the Elite Round Tournament later this  month.

A breakdown of the fixtures is as follows:

25th March- France- 3pm

27th March- Russia- 3pm

30th March- Israel- 3pm

Earlier this week, we revealed that Luke Freeman has been named in the England u-16 squad for the Montiagu Tournament, alongside fellow Arsenal youngsters Oliver Nicholas, Emmanuel Frimpong and Sam Byles. The fixtures for the tournament have now been announced and are as follows.

19th March- Japan- 5pm

20th March- Germany- 7pm

22nd March- USA- 3pm

24th March- TBC

Because of these international commitments, Arsenal are likely to be without the following players for the following games.

Fri Mar 21- Chelsea (A)- Freeman, Nicholas, Byles, Frimpong

Sat Mar 29- Cardiff City (H)- Wilshere, Cruise

As vital as this international experience is for these young players, hopefully it won’t do too much to derail the under-18s title bid. For the Chelsea game we have players who can fill in for Freeman but it will be difficult without Wilshere against Cardiff.