Gary Neville made a prediction before Arsenal’s defeat against Liverpool that questioned whether the Gunners would cope if manager Unai Emery continued to select inexperienced players in the starting line up.

He identified four players who he thought should be dropped for the big game: Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Reiss Nelson. Joe Willock and Matteo Guendouzi. It’s slightly ironic considering Neville’s own rise at United was based on the trust that Sir Alex Ferguson showed in the class of ’92 but even so, he believed Emery must reinstate more experienced players to the side.

In the event, Emery ignored Neville’s advice and started three of the four, with Nelson the only one to make way for Nicolas Pepe. The Arsenal winger did, though, start against Newcastle and Burnley, and he has been praising the Gunners boss in recent days:

“Unai’s very positive and always telling you to express yourself, but also he’s got that thing where he’ll tell you if you do something wrong. I think that’s good for a coach to have two sides: the jokey side and the fiery side.”

“For me, especially, it helps me a lot to continue to improve and keep going. He helps a lot of the young players because there were a lot of them who came on the pre-season tour. He told them to be themselves, if they make a mistake just carry on. He helps them grow and gives them a great chance.”

You could argue that some of the decisions to select younger players have been forced on Emery due to injuries and lack of availability (in the case of Mesut Ozil and Sead Kolasinac). However, you only have to look at the experience of the players on the bench at Anfield to dismiss that argument.

Calum Chambers, Sead Kolasinac, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Lucas Torreira and Alexandre Lacazette have 1314 senior appearances between them, and yet Emery opted to keep them out of the starting line up.

As we mentioned earlier in the summer, there is a clear change in focus at the club towards the academy, especially after the appointment of Freddie Ljungberg to the coaching staff. The Invincible was the Under 23s manager last season, and Emery has already said the Swede’s advice has been invaluable during pre-season to increase his knowledge of the youngsters at his disposal.

Fans have been complaining that the senior team have failed to tap into the huge potential that is coming through at Hail End, and there should be no complaints now Emery is beginning to utilise it.

Last season, he gave debuts to Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe, Zech Medley, Julio Pleguezuelo and Charlie Gilmour, while he is likely to do the same with Tyreece John-Jules this campaign. He has already given Gabriel Martinelli his first appearance against Newcastle on the opening day.

Just going by Nelson’s words it is clear Emery is keen to develop and harness the young players coming through the ranks, and he shouldn’t be criticised for it, especially due to the level of talent that the academy are producing.