"Arsenal have such a star-studded first-team that it's easy for people outside the club to forget that we have some exceptional youngsters coming through also. Take Paolo Vernazza. He's a highly talented young midfielder who’s won honours at youth level with Arsenal and is now starting to star in the first-team. He's put in some good performances in the Premiership this season and got his first goal for the first-team recently.

The funny thing about him is that he's a local boy who supports Arsenal, but he has a continental-sounding name. So he represents every different strand of the modern Arsenal in a way. Mind you, if he had a French rather than Italian name I guess it would be better!

In defence, Matthew Upson and Ashley Cole are going to be big stars, believe me. Upson has been unfortunate because for the first quarter of last season he was getting a good run in the first team and really impressing everyone. He was also beginning to build himself an international career at Under-21 level. Then, he got injured at Leicester City and he’s only just returning to match fitness now. I think it’ll be great for Matthew if he gets a game very soon because he must be so bored just training all the time - he needs to get back to starting games. I'm sure he will and then he'll really go places.

Ashley Cole is a player that everyone at the club has highly rated for a long time. Even two or three years ago, we were aware of his talent but with Nigel Winterburn and Silvinho to get past, it hasn't always been easy. Ashley was patient, though, and now he's reaping the rewards by becoming a crowd favourite whenever he covers for Silvinho. He's got a good shot on him too as he showed on Saturday against Manchester City.

In attack, Graham Barrett is another emerging talent, and Liam Brady is producing a great stock of players in the next age group down as well. The future is bright at Highbury.

So let's see what happens tonight. I think the Worthington Cup offers a great chance for the club to try out younger players and let fringe players or those returning from injury get a run out. As we saw last night, the competition has already thrown up some noteworthy results, so it’ll be fascinating to see what happens this evening. If you're off to Highbury, enjoy the game and give the team your backing."