Three Arsenal youngsters have been named in England’s 18-man squad for the upcoming UEFA European U17 Championship.

Midfielder’s Jack Wilshere and Emmanuel Frimpong are set to reap the rewards after a batch  of superb performances in the Arsenal reserve side, while striker Luke Freeman gets given his chance by Young Lion’s coach John Peacock.

Former Gunner Keanu Marsh Brown is another who claims a squad place. Theo Walcott’s cousin Jacob is also included.

Click here to view the full squad.

Arsenal travelled to north East England looking to get back to winning ways in the league after last weeks shock loss to Premier League newcomers Hull City.

Alex Song was been handed a starting place ahead of French midfield maestro Samir Nasri after Wednesday’s 4-0 mauling of FC Porto, other than that, the team was unchanged.

Sunderland Starting XI

Gordon
Chimbonda - Ferdinand - Collins - McCartney
Malbranque - Whitehead - Yorke - Reid
Richardson
Cisse

Arsenal Starting XI

Almunia
Sagna - Toure - Gallas - Clichy
Walcott - Fabregas - Song - Denilson
Adebayor - van Persie

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Alex Song has been handed a starting place ahead of French midfield maestro Samir Nasri for this afternoon’s Premier League tie with Sunderland.

Song, who only recently recovered from a knock to his hip, replaces the 21-year-old who is surprisingly dropped to the bench.

Other than that, the team is unchanged from the 4-0 mauling of FC Porto with Theo Walcott and Denilson continuing in midfield.

Confirmed Starting XI

Almunia
Sagna - Toure - Gallas - Clichy
Walcott - Fabregas - Song - Denilson
Adebayor - van Persie

Substitutes:

Fabianski (GK), Nasri, Vela, Silvestre, Djourou, Bendtner, Eboue

Sunderland host Arsenal at the Stadium of Light in today’s 3:00 kick-off looking to follow the example set by Hull City last weekend.

The newly-promoted Tigers ripped up the formbook and made a mockery of the bookmakers who made them distant outsiders to take anything away from the Emirates Stadium as they left north London with a 2-1 victory.

That result has given the rest of the top-flight’s lesser lights belief that they too can compete on any given day with the top four and it’s fair to assume that Black Cats boss Roy Keane will have conveyed that to his players this week.

Injury concerns continue to hamper Keane’s plans though as he will once again be without Kenwyne Jones (knee), Teemu Tainio (shoulder), Nyron Nosworthy (hamstring) and possibly Phil Bardsley (ankle).

Arsene Wenger admitted he felt sickened by Arsenal’s ‘careless’ defeat at the hands of Hull, which also saw them relinquish their position at the top of the Premier League table to Chelsea.

However, the Frenchman was heartened by his side’s 4-0 Champions League thrashing of FC Porto on Tuesday night with Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie both bagging braces.

Domestically, Arsenal have now been beaten twice - which is just one less than the total number of losses they suffered during the entire 38 games of last year’s campaign - so Wenger knows any further slip-ups could be costly.

The Gunners remain unable to call on the services of Abou Diaby (thigh), Tomas Rosicky (hamstring) and Eduardo da Silva (broken ankle).

Predicted Starting XI

Almunia
Sagna - Toure - Gallas - Clichy
Walcott - Fabregas - Denilson - Nasri
Adebayor - van Persie

Match Prediction: Sunderland 1-3 Arsenal

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