Rob Holding believes Arsenal's loss to Southampton will be a good learning curve for the club's younger players.
Arsene Wenger made 10 changes to the side that beat AFC Bournemouth on the weekend for Wednesday night's EFL Cup quarter-final with the Saints.
The Gunners were dumped from the competition after losing 2-0 and although it was an enormously disappointing result, young centre-back Holding suggests it could be an invaluable lesson.
"You look at the players we had out tonight, there were some big players and you think with the strength of the squad, a second string team can get all the way – but it wasn't to be," he told Arsenal Player.
"It was a chance to get some silverware at the end of the season, so I'm disappointed to be out of the competition," he added. "There's not much more I can say really.
"We've just got to learn from it and it'll only help us in the coming years."