Blues looking for Cup bonus

The FA Youth Cup sponsored by E.ON
The Final First Leg

Chelsea have not won The FA Youth Cup since 1961, when former England manager Terry Venables was a rising star, but they have a chance to put that right, starting at Aston Villa on Thursday night. 

Venables also played in the winning team that year alongside former England keeper Peter Bonetti and Bobby Tambling, who is still the club’s record scorer.

The Blues have since gone 49 years without success in the competition, although they reached The Final two years ago only to be beaten 4-2 by a Manchester City side containing Daniel Sturridge, who now plays for them.

But Manager Dermot Drummy says there is no extra pressure on the crop of 2010 to end that barren run win.

“There’s no pressure,” he says.

“Our main aim is to produce great players and that’s what we’ve been doing. We’ve got a fantastic group of lads at the moment and we’re hopeful we can get a result in The Final.”

The Blues progressed to this stage by trouncing Blackburn Rovers 5-0 on aggregate in the Semi-Final, taking their total goal tally in the competition to 16. They will look to use this attacking flair to overcome a Villa side managed by former Chelsea player Tony McAndrew

“We prepare well and train hard for all of our games and this one is no different,” added Drummy. “We’ve done a lot of physical and mental preparation.”

“We always know about our opponents. We’ve looked at Aston Villa and the boys know all about them coming into the game.”

Indeed, the two sides met in the Semi-Final in 2008, with Chelsea coming out on top 4-3 over the two legs. But Villa have the edge historically, with three trophies to Chelsea’s two.

This time Villa will be full of confidence after winning their Semi-Final against Newcastle 2-1 on aggregate, with Connor Taylor scoring the decisive goal in a hard-fought 1-0 victory at St James’ Park.

It is Villa’s third Final in the past decade, having won The Cup for the third time after beating Everton in 2002, but then losing to Middlesbrough in The Final two years later.

You can watch the game live on FATV tonight, with coverage from Villa Park starting at around 7.20pm.