20 March 2008
VIDEO: Semi-Final - Aston Villa 2-3 Chelsea

Watch the highlights from the Semi-Final second leg at Villa Park as Chelsea take on Villa for a place in the Final.

Chelsea v Manchester City
The FA Youth Cup Sponsored by E.ON
Final, First Leg 
7pm, Thursday 3 April 2008
Stamford Bridge
Click here for fixture details 

Chelsea skipper Seth Nana Ofori-Twumasi is hoping home advantage can see them build something of a lead in tonight’s first leg of The FA Youth Cup Final.

The Blues take on Manchester City at Stamford Bridge in what is their first appearance in the Final since they won it back in 1961, so it would be a great honour for the youngsters were they to lift the trophy.

And England U17 ace Ofori-Twumasi admits that the team’s thoughts are aimed firmly on victory as they prepare to meet City.

“Our ambition now is to go on and win the competition and that would be a great achievement for us and for the club as well,” he revealed, ahead of the game.

“We have played some good stuff through the previous rounds and just kept the momentum going.

“Now we’re in the Final, we know that there is a real chance of winning it so that’s what we are all focusing on.”

The Ghanaian-born defender knows it will be important to make the most of the first leg too, given that Chelsea are the hosts and are expecting a 10,000 plus attendance with free entry to the game too.

However, in their Semi-Final with Aston Villa they only picked up a 1-1 draw before going on to win the second leg in a thrilling game at Villa Park, so Ofori-Twumasi believes it won’t be the end of the world should they not secure victory.

“We’re at home in the first game, so we’ll definitely be looking to take full advantage of that,” he added.

“In the Semi-Final first leg we drew with Villa at home, but then went and won the second game, so it doesn’t always matter but we will be trying to take the lead into the game at City.”

Whatever happens though, it has been a good learning curve for the players involved and a welcome distraction from the weekly rigours of the Premier Academy League.

“It’s been a great experience for us all to get this far and I think we’ve all learnt a great deal from it,” he said.

“The Cup games are all about winning, so we’ve always gone out there with the one thought in mind to try and progress to the next round, whilst playing good football.

“We play in the League every week and this is a separate thing which we are taking very seriously and it has given us a chance to have something different to concentrate on over the season.

“There is that pressure there to win the game and it will be even higher in the Final now, so if we can be successful then it will be a great moment and achievement for us.

“It’s a good competition to be involved in for all of the players.”