Arsenal under-18s take on Aston Villa tomorrow in the play-off semi-final of the Premier Academy League. The Gunners are in good form going into this fixture and are unbeaten in their last five matches. However, their run of four consecutive wins came to an end last weekend when they were held to 1-1 draw by Fulham. There were many positives to take from that game though, not least the performances of goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny and goalscorer Thomas Cruise.
Arsenal beat Villa 4-1 in September, but should expect a tougher test this time around. For one, they are playing at a Premier League stadium in Villa Park. This, however, will not faze many of Arsenal’s youngsters who have played at several football league stadiums in the reserves and some featured against Liverpool at Anfield in the FA Youth Cup. Despite the scoreline the last time these two sides met, Villa should not be underestimated; they won Group B comfortably, finishing nine points ahead of nearest challengers Tottenham Hotspur and have one of the most highly regarded young English strikers in the planet in Nathan Delfouneso. The powerhouse has represented England at youth level over the past couple of seasons and will be a threat to Szczesny’s goal.
| |
|
P |
W |
D |
L |
For |
Agt |
GD |
Pts |
| 1 |
Arsenal U18 (C)
|
28 |
17 |
5 |
6 |
74 |
31 |
+43 |
56 |
| 2 |
West Ham United U18 |
28 |
16 |
3 |
9 |
63 |
38 |
+25 |
51 |
| 3 |
Fulham U18 |
28 |
14 |
7 |
7 |
39 |
28 |
+11 |
49 |
| 4 |
Portsmouth U18 |
27 |
14 |
4 |
9 |
40 |
41 |
-1 |
46 |
| 5 |
Crystal Palace U18 |
27 |
13 |
5 |
9 |
57 |
40 |
+17 |
44 |
| 6 |
Southampton U18 |
28 |
13 |
4 |
11 |
43 |
52 |
-9 |
43 |
| 7 |
Chelsea U18 |
27 |
11 |
6 |
10 |
55 |
48 |
+7 |
39 |
| 8 |
Charlton Athletic U18 |
28 |
9 |
8 |
11 |
47 |
51 |
-4 |
35 |
| 9 |
Ipswich Town U18 |
28 |
9 |
5 |
14 |
39 |
53 |
-14 |
32 |
| 10 |
Norwich City U18 |
27 |
6 |
9 |
12 |
44 |
54 |
-10 |
27 |
| 11 |
Millwall U18 |
28 |
4 |
6 |
18 |
30 |
64 |
-34 |
18 |
| Results 19.04.08 |
Fixtures 26.04.08 |
| Charlton Athletic 2 Millwall 2 |
Norwich City v Crystal Palace |
| Chelsea 2 Leicester City 2 |
Portsmouth v Chelsea |
| Fulham 1 Arsenal 1 |
|
| Portsmouth 0 Crystal Palace 3 |
FA Premier Academy League Semi-Finals |
| |
26th April: Aston Villa v Arsenal |
| |
28th April: Manchester City v Sunderland |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
In terms of team news, Henri Lansbury is still not fit whilst Steve Bould will consider whether to bring back Rhys Murphy who hasn’t started for the last couple of games, Craig Eastmond could replace Anton Blackwood in defence. Kyle Bartley is likely to miss out with a foot injury. There is of course the possibility of Bould drafting in more experienced youngsters, such as Nacer Barazite, Rui Fonte, Gavin Hoyte and Gilles Sunu. However, with the current side in such good form, he may opt to stick with the regular team, whilst naming some of the aforementioned players on the bench.
——————–Szczesny—————
–Eastmond—Cruise————-Thomas (c)——Evina
–Watt——-Frimpong————Ayling———Freeman
———————-Wilshere————————
———————-Murphy————————
Captain Jay Emmanuel-Thomas hasn’t started the last couple of games, but is expected to be reinstated for this one. Speaking to the Arsenal matchday programme, he talked about the importance of winning the Academy League trophy and avenging the FA Youth Cup defeat to Liverpool at Anfield.
We have a great chance to win the Academy Trophy this year. I know that the team last season got to the semis and were beaten by Leicester, but I feel we can go a step further and are all focused on winning the tournament. We are playing some good football and are getting the results too. After losing to Liverpool in the FA Youth Cup, we want to win this trophy. Against Liverpool we went a goal down and played the best football, but didn’t seem to get the break that would give us the equaliser. I felt that during the game we had enough to win, but it didn’t work out. We have a strong belief we can go all the way this time.
Reserves manager Neil Banfield has also lent his support to the lads, but acknowledges that it is not going to be easy.
“It takes time to get it going but now you are really seeing the fruits of our labour. Yes they have a tough game on Saturday but it will be a good football game. We are going there in high spirits.”
The Gunners lost out to Leicester at this stage of the competition last season, but are determined to go one better this time. Should they beat Villa tomorrow, then the Young Gunners will face either Sunderland or FA Youth Cup winners Man. City in the final.
Tomorrow’s game kicks off at 1pm.
