Arsenal's sights set on The FA Youth Cup.
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
Kyle Bartley says the experience of playing in front of almost 10,000 fans in the Semi-Final of The FA Youth Cup will benefit Arsenal's youngsters in The Final.
Only Jack Wilshere and Francis Coquelin had previously featured at the club's home before this week - when the young Gunners beat holders Manchester City 4-1 - but Bartley says the 'Emirates Effect' will stand Arsenal in good stead when they face either Liverpool or Birmingham over two legs in The Final.
Having all experienced playing at the Emirates now, Bartley believes his team-mates will benefit from the familiarity when they next run out there.
"Playing at the Emirates Stadium will help when we play the first leg of The Final," said the defender after the match.
"As a group, I think it's good for our development so hopefully we can use that to our advantage.
"This is the big one for us. The Youth Cup is the one that everyone wants and hopefully we can emulate the 2001 side which won the trophy."
Bartley headed home the third of Arsenal's four goals in a devastating opening 31 minutes. However, the Gunners' performance dropped markedly after that, a fact the 18-year old thinks is understandable.
"We had to keep our concentration and although we conceded one sloppy goal I thought we did quite well," he added. "I think it is natural to relax a bit when you are so far ahead but you have to stay motivated the whole way through.
"It was a good result. We got the goals and the first half-an-hour was a decent performance but after that we took our foot off the pedal. We allowed a few sloppy passes to come into our game.
"We didn't perform as well as we could have but the result is what matters most."
