Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta believes that Tuesday's Champions League game versus PSV Eindhoven was not the "right moment" to offer minutes to three of the club's academy starlets.
Neither the Gunners nor Peter Bosz's side were playing for anything but pride at the Philips Stadion, as Arsenal had already qualified in first place while PSV will enter the last-16 draw as runners-up.
As such, both managers unsurprisingly made changes in abundance for their final Group B affair, where Arteta made eight alterations from the weekend's Premier League loss to Aston Villa.
Arsenal came under the cosh early doors, but they took the lead against the run of play on the stroke of half time, as Reiss Nelson teed up Eddie Nketiah to fire home off the inside of the post.
However, the hosts' pressure eventually told five minutes after the restart, as Yorbe Vertessen equalised with aplomb, and Arteta elected to bring on several senior players as the 1-1 stalemate drew to a close.
© Reuters
Declan Rice, Ben White, Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard were all introduced into the fray, as was Emile Smith Rowe, who made his first appearance since late October after recovering from a knee injury.
The quintet's introductions forced Ethan Nwaneri, Reuell Walters and Lino Sousa to watch on from the bench for the entire 90 minutes, leaving Gooners frustrated that their Hale End proteges were not given a chance to impress.
Walters and Sousa are yet to make their first-team debuts for the club, while Nwaneri became the Premier League's youngest-ever player against Brentford in September 2022 but has not made another senior appearance since.
Sixteen-year-old Nwaneri would have become Arsenal's youngest-ever European player had he earned any minutes in Eindhoven, but Arteta does not believe that the "context" was right for any member of the trio to be introduced.
Speaking to the media in his post-game press conference, the Spaniard said: "I don't think it was the right context, making eight changes already to throw them in there against a team that hasn't lost here almost in two years, I didn't think it was the right moment.
© Reuters
"I went on to wait to see how the game developed, but it was too much for them and as well we have three little issues, we had to make the subs and then we had no room because we really wanted to play a game as well.
"Emile we wanted to play him a little bit earlier. We were waiting because we had two players with niggles. I was asking them can they continue? I was hesitant to make the change too early and than have six or seven minutes with ten men."
One of Arsenal's eight new faces in the starting XI was experienced midfielder Mohamed Elneny, whose 2022-23 season was cut short by a serious knee injury before he signed a new one-year contract extension.
However, Arteta confirmed a fresh blow for the luckless Egyptian, who appeared to damage his hamstring before his 62nd-minute substitution, saying: "Yeah we don't know the extent of it but he's done something."
Arsenal end a successful Champions League group-stage campaign with 13 points from a possible 18 and return to Premier League duty at home to Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday.
