The first leg of the 2016 FA Youth Cup final ended in a stalemate as last year’s finalists Manchester City and Chelsea drew 1-1 at the City Football Academy.
Both teams named strong lineups but were without several regulars. Manchester City weren’t able to call upon full back Demeaco Duhaney so schoolboy Joel Latibeaudiere stepped in at left back with Charlie Oliver shifting to the right hand side, whilst visitors Chelsea were without Tammy Abraham due to a slight injury so second choice striker Ike Ugbo (who funnily enough has 22 U18 league goals this season!) led the line.
City had only three midfielders compared to Chelsea’s five from their 4-2-3-1 formation. Defensive midfielder Jacob Davenport impressed early on making several good interceptions and battled well in the middle of the park with his usual tenacious playing style. Despite having him protecting the defence Chelsea dominated most of the first half and were dominant in attack, with playmaker Mason Mount pulling the strings and wingers Isaac Christie-Davies (not usually a winger, mind) and Dujon Sterling (Chelsea’s only schoolboy in the squad) causing problems for full-backs Latibeaudiere and Oliver.
Mason Mount sprints with the ball. (Credit: The FA)
It was definitely Chelsea who were the more attacking side. Despite City having talents such as Brahim Diaz, Lukas Nmecha and Manu Garcia the visitors looked to bombard City’s defence with a barrage of attacks especially from the wings, with Jay Dasilva and Trevoh Chalobah often overlapping early on. Both teams had equally solid defences, with Tosin Adarabioyo and Cameron Humphreys in the centre for the home side (both with first team involvement) and recent debutant Jake Clarke-Salter and Fikayo Tomori protecting Chelsea’s goal.
It would be Chelsea who would get the first real shot of the game with Ike Ugbo forcing Daniel Grimshaw into making a strong save just moments after Trevoh Chalobah’s looping cross was hooked away by Charlie Oliver. Then just a minute later Grimshaw would make another nice save again, this time reaching high to palm away a well-struck Mukhtar Ali effort from the edge of the box. Chelsea duo Ali and Ruben Sammut were beginning to control their area of the park, preventing the likes of Garcia and Rodney Kongolo to advance further into Chelsea territory. Sammut and Ali have made an impressive pairing in the centre of midfield this season for the Blues, with both playing quite an underrated part in the majority of Chelsea’s success.
City did have a chance to break just over ten minutes in though, with a stray Jake Clarke-Salter pass being seized by Brahim who sprinted forward only to be stopped in his tracks by the impressive Fikayo Tomori, who scored the first goal for Chelsea’s U19s as they won the UEFA Youth League just a few days ago against Paris Saint Germain. They were beginning to find it difficult to break the solid partnership of Tomori and Clarke-Salter but did come close again a few minutes later with Aaron Nemane’s cross finding Rodney Kongolo in the middle of the box, but the Dutch midfielder was driven out by the Chelsea defence.
Jay Dasilva’s cross-cum-shot would leave Daniel Grimshaw beaten at the other end but lucky for the home side’s custodian the ball would thud against the upright, with a City defender managing to clear away before Ike Ugbo or Mason Mount could pounce. Grimshaw would be called into action though, diving low to deny Dujon Sterling from taking the lead. Still at the other end City weren’t able to get any shots away as Kongolo almost threaded through Lukas Nmecha, City’s top scorer in the U18 league this season but nothing could come from it.
Nmecha, who had support from the flanks from Nemane and Brahim was doing his best to spearhead the City attack and almost fired home from an acute angle after working his way into a one-on-one situation with Nathan Baxter who made a good save to prevent him from scoring. Initially the backup goalkeeper for Chelsea’s U18s this term, Baxter seized his chance after Jared Thompson sustained an injury and he has taken it very well, putting in some impressive displays for the U18s and, despite not being called into action much in the first half, he would go on to make quite a few more stops.
Lukas Nmecha and Fikayo Tomori battle for the ball. (Credit: Matt West, Guardian/Shutterstock)
Both teams would fire over the bar before half time, with Brahim’s powerful effort going inches over Baxter’s crossbar and the lively Sterling looping his shot over the goal too. The first corner of the game would come surprisingly thirty minutes in after Aaron Nemane did well to wriggle his way into the box and force a corner. It was a good delivery from Jacob Davenport who found Tosin Adarabioyo but his header was poked behind by Fikayo Tomori giving City another chance to take the lead. Brahim played it short to Davenport this time whose cross was collected then booted downfield by Baxter.
Chelsea won their first corner when Isaac Christie-Davies (playing in the relatively unfamiliar position of winger) saw his corner hooked behind by powerful schoolboy Joel Latibeaudiere. The England U16 international looked solid in defence, making several good tackles but didn’t get as forward as much with his right-back colleague Charlie Oliver – unlike their opponents Jay Dasilva and Trevoh Chalobah who often bombed forward at every opportunity in the first half. The corner would come to nothing though, and so did a chance for Chelsea after Sterling played Ugbo through but was halted as he was alleged to have clipped Adarabioyo. Chalobah put in three crosses in the space of two minutes too but they didn’t result in a goal either with the score at half time 0-0.
Both teams started the second half incredibly lively and Chelsea would take the lead four minutes in after a great run from right-back Chalobah ended in the first year scholar, younger brother of Nathaniel who won this tournament six years ago, playing in a low cross to Mason Mount who swept home to give Chelsea the lead. It was a well deserved goal for Mount, who is still a first year scholar but has caught the eye of the U21 management with his impressive displays for the U18s this season. Mount is also an England U17 regular alongside his colleagues Chalobah, Sterling and Jared Thompson and will hope to travel with the team to the Euro U17 Championships in Azerbaijan in the coming months.
Mason Mount sweeps home for the opening goal (Credit: Chelsea FC)
Chelsea continued to push for a second goal, with Dasilva and Mount seeing their crosses headed away and City replied by bringing on striker Isaac Buckley for Manu Garcia, who was relatively invisible for most of the game. Garcia struggled with Sammut and Ali in the middle of the park but the lively Buckley started to cause plenty of problems, breaking forward at every opportunity and wriggling his way into tight spaces and almost giving City the lead. Chelsea brought on Kyle Scott for the impressive Ali and a minute later City came close to equalising, with Nmecha (under pressure from Tomori) saw his shot well saved by the excellent Baxter – who wasn’t called into action that much but when he was he made some great saves.
City’s resilience earned them an equaliser though, a well struck goal from Aaron Nemane. The winger picked up the ball on the left hand side before curling it sublimely past Nathan Baxter into the top corner. Both teams were getting more desperate now, with the visitors bringing on talented attacking midfielder Jacob Maddox for Ugbo who looked impressive leading the line but was denied often by the reflexes of Daniel Grimshaw. Josh Grant was brought on for Trevoh Chalobah at right back who had an impressive game and Grant made an instant impact, involving himself in a lovely attacking move that ended with Jay Dasilva’s shot going wide of the post. Grant looked solid defensively too, blocking a cross from Nemane and making a good challenge to deny City from kickstarting a counter attack.
Aaron Nemane is congratulated by his teammates. (Credit: Getty)
Dujon Sterling’s drilled effort was stopped by Grimshaw before City brought on Marcus Wood and Jadon Sancho on for Joel Latibeaudiere and Aaron Nemane, but it turned out that neither team would grab a winner before the second leg at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday. Both teams ultimately battled well in the second half with Chelsea dominating most of the game but City looked superior in patches. Chelsea will hope to have Tammy Abraham back for Wednesday’s game but Ike Ugbo can still fill in, with the hard working striker creating a couple of chances earlier in the game too. It was a very entertaining second half, and the second leg will no doubt be as similar.
Manchester City: Daniel Grimshaw, Joel Latibeaudiere (Marcus Wood 88), Tosin Adarabioyo (c), Cameron Humphreys, Charlie Oliver, Jacob Davenport, Rodney Kongolo, Manu Garcia (Isaac Buckley 59), Aaron Nemane (Jadon Sancho 90+1), Lukas Nmecha, Brahim Diaz.
Unused subs – Kjetil Haug (GK), Tom Dele-Bashiru.
Chelsea: Nathan Baxter, Jay Dasilva, Fikayo Tomori, Jake Clarke-Salter (c), Trevoh Chalobah (Josh Grant 77), Ruben Sammut, Mukhtar Ali (Kyle Scott 61), Isaac Christie-Davies, Mason Mount, Dujon Sterling, Ike Ugbo (Jacob Maddox 70)
Unused subs – Jared Thompson (GK), Charlie Wakefield.
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