At a younger level, goalkeeper Mark Howard is in the England U18 squad for tonight's friendly at Northampton against Belgium, while right back Kerrea Gilbert was in the England U17 squad for the recent qualifying tournament for the European U17 championships. England qualified for the finals in France this May by winning all 3 games, against Iceland, Armenia and Norway. Gilbert didn't feature in the first two games, but started the 2-1 win against Norway. He was subbed after 28 minutes, we assume due to injury. Arsenal's Spanish starlet Cesc, player of the recent U17 world cup, is currently with the Spanish U17 squad for their qualifying tournament. He played in the 4-0 win over the Czech republic and the 1-1 draw with Russia, and is likely to start today's deciding game against Hungary. Update: Spain joined England in the finals by beating Hungary 6-1 in their final match. Cesc got Spain's 4th goal by converting a penalty in the second half.

Domestically, the Arsenal under-17s finished their season with a 3-1 win against Coventry at the Colney training ground last Saturday. Coventry went in front after 30 minutes when a back header by striker Ben Mackey looped over Arsenal keeper Chris Wright. The young Gunners had dominated the first half, and deservedly equalised a few minutes before half time, when Mitchell Murphy's corner was headed home by centre half & captain, Dominic Shimmin. Ironically Coventry probably had slightly more of the game after the break, but it was Arsenal who were the more incisive, with two goals in the last 20 minutes. Substitute Jay Simpson had just come on when he robbed a defender on the edge of the area and slotted past the helpless keeper. Simpson then created the third goal following a quick Arsenal break, with a superb cross to pick out Anthony Stokes at the back post. The young Irish star tricked his way past his marker with a smart stepover and finished crisply with his left foot, slotting the ball past the keeper and inside the far post. The U17s thus finish their league in 4th place, level on points with Coventry, but 5 points behind Leicester in 2nd, and 11 points behind league winners Aston Villa. The top two qualify for the national quarter-final playoffs.

15 year-old Stokes looks like the next potential star to come through the Arsenal ranks - he also played and scored twice in the under-19s game the previous day, a 4-1 win against Charlton which keeps the U19s 13 points clear at the top of the league with their final league game next Saturday. Adam Birchall and Michal Papdopulos scored the other goals. The young Gunners face one of the other 3 regional league winners in a semi-final playoff on April 24th. Stokes also scored a free kick in a friendly for an Arsenal reserve side against Luton yesterday, in a game to give first team squad players some action.

See the ArseWeb youth team page for up to date tables and further stats.