ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE:ARSENE WENGER could not suppress the smile as he laid down a challenge rich in irony. "I think if Fabio Capello wants to have a good selection now, he has to come to our Carling Cup games," the Arsenal manager said.

In the past, the very notion of Wenger advising an England manager to make himself a fixture at Arsenal matches would have invited derision. For years, Wenger's first-team squad was packed with overseas talent, but its underbelly has now acquired an English flavour.

In the 3-0 dismantling of Wigan Athletic on Tuesday night, in the League Cup fourth round, Arsenal's second string featured five English starters and three more on the substitutes' bench. Capello, seated in the Emirates Stadium crowd, was not alone in feeling his heart warm to future possibilities.

"I believe that (with) the players we have seen here, you have a competitive future at international level," Wenger told his English audience after the victory, having earlier described his crop of young players as the "most complete" of his 12-year tenure. "We have eight, nine ([English) players who are very interesting. If you leave me time, I will bring a few on."

Cue more smiles. Wenger had name-checked all of them, from the full-backs Gavin Hoyte - "outstanding" against Wigan - and Kieran Gibbs, to the midfielders Jack Wilshere and Mark Randall to the striker Jay Simpson, who marked his full debut with two well-taken goals. There was also the substitute who got on, the midfielder Henri Lansbury, and the two that did not, the defender Abu Ogogo and the midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong, who was born in Ghana but is now a regular for England youth sides.

"Top-class players, all of them," Wenger enthused.

Dig deeper and the local talent is further evident. Of the club's 23 "young professionals" - players usually in the reserves and youth teams - 14 are English while 10 of the 12 "scholars" - academy players in the early stages - were born in England. The vast majority are from London.

Arsenal are far from the only club with rich English promise. The top Premier League outfits have gems in reserve while Leeds United, Crystal Palace and Southampton are among those to have struck gold of late. The soul-searching that accompanied the national team's failure to qualify for Euro 2008 under Steve McClaren picked over the perceived failures of academies up and down the country, but the talent appears to be there.

It is unclear how much of an impact Sepp Blatter's 6+5 proposal has had. This provides that a club team would have to start a match with at least six players eligible for the national team of the country in which it is domiciled and is not only backed by the Fifa president but also by his Uefa counterpart Michel Platini, although it has been claimed that the rule would contravene European labour laws.

Chelsea appear to be planning for quota systems becoming a reality - the chief executive, Peter Kenyon, said this week that the club will concentrate more on scouting in this country. Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez, with a nod towards 6+5, highlighted Gareth Barry's English nationality as he tried to sign him over the summer.

At Arsenal, however, the emergence of English youngsters does not appear to be a part of any grand plan. Wenger has long trotted out the mantra "Forget the passport, look at the quality" and he did so again on Tuesday.

"We are producing quality English players and very, very soon, you will see more of them in the Arsenal team," he added. "I believe the pride in sport is that if you have the quality then you play, no matter where you are from. If it was my son but not good enough, then he could never play for Arsenal."

The message has got through to his players. "If you're good enough, you'll play and if there are players doing well ahead of you, then they'll play," said Simpson, who grew up as an Arsenal fan and idolised Ian Wright. "It's been talked about, if English players are coming through this club, but I'm sure you'll see more coming through. I've been with Arsenal since I was eight and I met Wrighty once. It was at Highbury, in the tunnel. I was star-struck and I didn't know what to say. He's still an Arsenal fan."

Theo Walcott is the only Englishman who can be considered as a first-team mainstay but Wilshere, in particular, has the ability to challenge that. Wenger has had talented English players in the past but almost all of them have left the club to make their names elsewhere. The wait for a home-grown English regular could be approaching an end.

Guardian Service