Arsenal took the senior team to Dubai for a warm-weather training camp last week, which, for the most part, was the first opportunity for some rest and recovery for a considerably long period of time. The team have been playing a heavy schedule with a threadbare squad due to the persistent and frequent injuries which have plagued the group.

Joining them on the trip was a collection of young players who could prove to be very important for Mikel Arteta during the season. With the injury issues mounting up, the latest saw Gabriel Martinelli suffer a hamstring problem at Newcastle with a reported month-long period on the sidelines, the young guns may indeed be called upon.

Both Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri have already been integrated into the senior setup and made successful breakouts this season. Both scored in the mightily impressive 5-1 win over Manchester City and set the standard for those looking to emulate their former teammates turned role models.

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Speaking to Arsenal's official website, Under-21s boss Mehmet Ali explained the reasons behind the youngsters joining up with the group. Ethan, Myles and third-choice goalkeeper and Under-21s player Tommy Setford have been joined by eight others.

Ismael Kabia, Nathan Butler-Oyedeji, Jack Henry-Francis, Charles Sagoe Jr, Josh Nichols, Max Dowman, Jack Porter and Michal Rosiak have all made the trip. The likes of Kabia, Butler Oyedeji, Porter, Nichols and Sagoe Jr have already made senior debuts, but Ali explains the importance of their presence.

"Yeah, there's eight players that have joined the trip to come to Dubai to support the first team and I guess really it's different for different players," Ali said. "You've got some of the younger ones who are coming for the first time, getting a feel for what it takes to be an Arsenal first-team player.

"Then you've got some of the older lads who have been around supporting the first team before, but ultimately it's about these guys coming to Dubai and trying to absorb as much information as they can from Mikel, all of the first team staff and of course all of the players as well. So it's about learning, developing and facilitating the first team."

Sagoe Jr spent the first half of the season on loan with Shrewsbury Town. He was given a debut and start in the League Cup win over Brentford last season and has remained past the January deadline this year meaning he too could get more minutes in games between now and the end of the campaign.

The ages of the group in some senses mean a trip to Dubai takes them out of the regular school-life that children of their age would usually experience. Arsenal, however, have been careful to ensure that education remains a key part of the trip for those in line to receive it.

Ali explains: "Yeah, I think the way Per [Mertesacker] runs the academy, we're very fortunate. I see us as a very well-oiled machine in terms of there's so many staff that support in their roles and we try and be world-class in each department that we work in.

"We've got Mark Walter here with us from a safeguarding perspective, but also making sure he's supporting the lads that are still in school, getting their education in, and there'll be time slots for them when the first team players will be relaxing. Some of the lads will be making sure they're getting their education in as well."

Interestingly, however, Ali talks about what just a day with the first team can mean for players. He describes just 24 hours as an entire week’s worth of experience that will stay with players of a younger age for a really long time.

"It's an invaluable experience that they're going to pick up," Alli said. "I always feel when you're away in a 24-hour setting with the first team, for me it's like a week's worth of, it's like being three months of development in a week simply because you're picking up so much information subconsciously, consciously.

"They're picking up so many different things on the pitch, off the pitch so it's a privilege for these boys and myself to be out here."

Ali has been with the club for three years now and just like his young players, he too is not wasting this experience on a personal level. He too is taking the opportunity to look to Arteta and other coaches to learn and take notes.

"Yeah, I've got my notepad and my pen," Ali said. "And it's quite interesting, to be honest, because obviously we support the first team daily and we're very good at supporting in terms of 11 v 11 and understanding what our opponents are going to be doing next to support.

"But this is a different ballgame for me to be in and around their meetings, picking up little things that I wouldn't normally pick up and seeing the whole picture of it has been an invaluable experience for me and I think my job is to, when I get back, to drip feed that into the academy coaches and the staff and relay that information to make us even stronger.”

football.london understands that the players will be returning from Dubai today (Tuesday) and then will begin usual training preparations for the Premier League match with Leicester City on Saturday. Arteta may well need to call on plenty of his younger players to help fill the gaps caused by the injuries in the side, and many will be there on the weekend.