West Ham boss David Moyes is wary throwing youngsters into Sunday's London derby with Arsenal.
With Craig Dawson suspended and Kurt Zouma likely to rest his sore ankle, the Hammers could be without any experienced central defenders at the London Stadium. West Ham also have the second-leg of their Europa League semifinal at Eintracht Frankfurt ahead of them.
And, whilst Moyes has been impressed with the youngsters in his Under-23 and Under-18 squads - and 20-year-old Harrison Ashby made his Premier League debut as a substitute in the reverse fixture earlier this season - he doesn't feel Sunday is the right time to push them into service.
"Ideally, you would always like to reward your young players," said Moyes.
"The Under-23s have done great. They are going to finish runners-up to Manchester City, which is an incredible achievement and the Under-18s are second in their league.
"In that sense, there are an awful lot of good things happening.
"But in games like Arsenal, you need to be careful where you put your young players in. You need to help the senior players as well, so they can rely on the players around them."
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