Rarely has the Emirates Stadium felt so barren or bitter, yet so full of promise. On a Monday night where temperatures arrived by express delivery from the Siberian steppe – one CSKA Moscow player even wore leggings – Arsenal became the third English side to reach the last four of the NextGen Series, the unofficial Champions League for under-19 teams, with a comfortable 1-0 win in front of nearly 7,000 people.

It was the latest show of strength in the futures market from an English side. Chelsea, who face Arsenal in the semi-finals on Good Friday, recently beat Barcelona 2-0 away and Juventus 4-1 at home. Arsenal stifled last year's champions Internazionale on their own soil, before departing with a 1-0 victory. And Aston Villa, who play Sporting Lisbonin Friday's other semi-final, outplayed Ajax, traditionally a chest-out powerhouse of European youth football, during a 2-1 away win.

Success at under-19 level is one thing, success at senior level quite another. But in a season when so many senior English club sides have flopped in Europe, and the national team has bobbed along with the steadiness of a toy duck in a child's bath, it has offered a warming counterblast.

Whether it is a harbinger of a rosier future is unclear, but many Premier League clubs are quick to stress the benefits of facing top-level European clubs on a regular basis – with the added benefit that midweek matches give first-team managers a chance to monitor how their young guns are developing.

Terry Burton, Arsenal reserves and head development coach,