Arsenal |
4-1 |
Manchester City |
Watt 1, 31, Wilshere 20 (pen), Bartley 29 |
(6-2 on agg) |
Benali 45 |
The FA Youth Cup, sponsored by E.ON
Semi-Final Second Leg
Wednesday 22 April 2009
7pm, Emirates Stadium, Arsenal FC
Arsenal will contest their first FA Youth Cup Final since 2001 after four goals in the opening half-hour dumped holders Manchester City out of the competition in front of almost 10,000 fans at the Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners held a 2-1 lead from the first leg at Eastlands five weeks ago and, with Jack Wilshere in the middle of a trio of pacy attackers, they were a cut above again tonight.
The fans were still filtering through the Emirates' turnstiles when the nerve-settling breakthrough came. Jay Emmanuel-Thomas wriggled himself a couple of yards in midfield and floated a pin-point pass into the path of Sanchez Watt, who calmly dispatched the ball beyond Joe Clegg after just 33 seconds.
City were stunned, and it took until the seventh minute for them to begin to ask questions of the Arsenal backline. When they did, James Shea had to be at his best to claw Kieran Trippier's shot away at the near post.
The men from Manchester battled gamely in search of a foothold and in Alex Nimley, they had an outstanding talent capable of changing a game.
Sunu shot wide after a neat interchange with Craig Eastmond as the hosts continued to dominate. Short incisive passing in and around the box had the City defence in a muddle and when Thomas Cruise delivered the perfect cross it seemed Coquelin would score. He didn't, but the crowd didn't have to wait long.
The same unease the visitors had showed in the first minute came back to haunt them as a breakdown in communication allowed for Watt to steal in and draw a foul inside the box from Clegg. Wilshere, the only player on the field with Premier League experience, made no mistake with the resulting spot-kick.
The Gunners had found their groove. More intelligent build up led to the host's second corner, which in turn led to their third goal - Bartley heading home from Wilshere's delivery.
And things got worse for City. Clegg and Reece Wabara conspired to gift Watt the ball from a goal kick and after riding one challenge the Arsenal man plundered a fourth. It had been a rip-roaring opening half an hour.
Eastmond was at full-stretch to divert a goal-bound effort off the line as City ended the half in the ascendancy. Shea twice more made vital interventions but City were not to be shackled for long and Ahmad Benali swept home after a thrusting move to ensure the second half would, at the very least, be competitive.
And they certainly turned up the heat after the restart. A succession of corners should have yielded at least one goal but substitute Jack Redshaw scuffed a shot wide from inside the six-yard box.
Further blocks from Eastmond and Bartley continued to keep City at arm's length, while Sunu went close on the break. It was now a wonderfully open game, but the visitors looked the team most likely to trouble the scorers again.
Abdisalam Ibrahim came within inches of sliding in a second for City, and the lively Redshaw continued to cause problems in the channels.
For all City's endeavour, though, the game, and indeed their grip on The FA Youth Cup, had been lost in the first half.
Liverpool host Birmingham in the other Semi-Final on Friday, but on this form neither will be looking forward to the prospect of facing Steve Bould's young charges.
The Teams
Arsenal
James Shea, Craig Eastmond, Luke Ayling, Kyle Bartley, Thomas Cruise (Cedric Evina, 78), Sanchez Watt, Jack, Wilshere, Francis Coquelin, Emmanuel Frimpong, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas (C), Gilles Sunu (Benik Afobe 78)
Substitutes not used Charlie Mann, Oguzhan Ozyakup, Luke Freeman
Manchester City
Joe Clegg, Greg Cunningham, Reece Wabara, Dedryck Boyata, Kieran Trippier (C), Abdisalam Ibrahim, Ahmad Benali, Chris Chantler (John Guidetti, 81), Andrew Tutte, Alex Nimely-Tchuimeni (Jack Redshaw, 45), Robbie Mak (Adrian Cieslewitz, 72)
Substitutes not used Eirik Johansen, Omar Elabdellaoui
