Emirates Stadium will host the FA Youth Cup final between Arsenal and West Ham United at 7pm on 25th April, four days earlier than originally scheduled.
Jack Wilshere’s under-18s booked their place in the final in dramatic circumstances scoring in stoppage time of extra-time to secure a 2-1 win over much-fancied Manchester City. Prior to that, they had beaten Watford, Newcastle and Millwall.
The showdown with the Hammers forms part of a huge 10-day period for the club with Arsenal Women challenging for a place in the Champions League final via a double-header with Wolfsburg on 23rd April and 1st May and the men looking to stamp their authority on the title race with a trip to Manchester City on 26th April and a rearranged home game with Chelsea on 2nd May.
We can feel the butterflies already.
To buy tickets for the FA Youth Cup final, click here.
Gooners… your support is AMAZING ❤️
We've now sold 36,000 tickets. Club level is nearly sold out too 🤯
This is your last chance for early bird pricing. Purchase before midnight ⚠️
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) April 11, 2023
Hope we can hammer the Hammers!
And pound £ity!
It might be harder than you’d imagine. They’re the runaway leaders in their league and Arsenal aren’t doing that well.
Aren’t there a few player’s that don’t usually play for the u18s that have been playing youth cup games, and we are home so hopefully a good chance
Remember going to watch the FA Youth Cup Final at Highbury in 1988. It was the during the week following the first XI’s disastrous defeat to Luton Town in the League Cup (then the Littlewoods Cup and with the European ban on English clubs due to the idiocy of Liverpool fans in Brussels currently in place, was considerably higher up the trophy rankings than it is today) So, with Gus Caesar handing Luton our only chance of major silverware, it was quite a large crowd at Highbury that we’re seeking immediate consolation from the youngsters on display. They included a… Read more »
Hi Andrew. I think there was some miscommunication or misunderstanding as don’t think this is 4 days earlier than scheduled as don’t think this was ever scheduled. It was just the match had to be played by the 29th April (i.e. on or before the 29th) which some people read as being on the 29th. Then with the rumours of the Chelsea game moving (which obviously did happen) people put 2 and 2 together. I think it was always likely to be a midweek game sometime w/c 24th April.
Wilshere is doing well with the Boys. I didn’t take him seriously when he got the job. I only realized that he was a good coach after beating Spurs and then telling his Boys to run it in by celebrating wildly
The team’s league record reads:
P18 W5 D4 L9
And? Don’t think you understand underage football. The record doesn’t matter. The best players play a lot of games for the u23’s. They play tactics suited to the teams higher up the food chain, with players playing out of position to assess their strengths and weaknesses. It’s about developing players not winning their league. The fa youth cup games are the only time the best team is fielded in an attempt to win, playing to a system that suits the best players available for selection.
The OP’s message was drawing the conclusion that Wilshere is doing a good job because the team has reached the final. That is essentially basing an opinion on results.
If you’re going to do so, then you should also equally look at the horrible record the team has in their league.
Learning the same football as the senior team is great and all, but if the u18 team is constantly losing I don’t think it does much to build the players’ confidence. It also indicates they’re not exactly learning much about the tactical side of the game.
bullshit, league position means nothing. If 1 player makes the 1st team every 2 years they are punching well above their weight. As someone who went through academy football in the 80’s, I will repeat my statement above. I don’t think you understand academy football.
Cmon young guns. Cigarettes all around if you can pull it off