Arsenal’s youngsters will get another taste of the big time this evening as they take on Sunderland in the 5th round of the E.ON sponsored F.A Youth Cup.
Wins over Aston Villa and Wolves have set up a clash with the Black Cats, and a large crowd is expected at the Stadium of Light to watch two of England’s most dominant academies go head-to-head.
The fixture will also see Coach Steve Bould return to one of his former stomping grounds – but there will be no room for sentiment as the 90 minutes decides who will reach the quarter-finals, and who will return to League action with their tails firmly between their legs.
The Youth Cup is infamous for unearthing starlets, but on paper, the current crop of Gunners are the ‘weakest’ for a couple of years. However, they’re out to prove themselves, and a convincing romp against Wolves last time out showed the swagger and prowess of a side very capable of winning the competition.
This evening will be the biggest test of Bould’s boys’ abilities and character so far, but his resources have been further stretched.
He is already without Conor Henderson, Ignasi Miquel and after picking up a knee injury against Villa – Rhys Murphy. But in the last week first choice ‘keeper James Shea has joined the list, and there are big doubts over Frenchman Francis Coquelin.
Yet despite all the absentees, new stopper Harry Lee and first team play-maker Jack Wilshere will be on hand to help fill some of the gaps. Benik Afobe and Oguzhan Ozyakup have also travelled, with the latter set to deputise should Coquelin fail a late fitness test.
The game is not being shown live, but match highlights will be avaliable on Tuesday evening. Check back shortly after full time for a match report.
Article By – J.Sanderson
you should mentin that fonte is off to palace perhaps?
J, on the loaning of Rui Fonte to Palace, I am surprised because I thought that Sporting still owned him and we were loaning him from them?
hi j – why do you say weakest? with jack, sunu, JET, lansbury, ozyakup, benik on the bench – so many players with the potential to make it here. surprised to hear you say that?
JS, any chance you could give us a phonetic breakdown of the dutch kids name. The way I read it is OG-U-ZAN OZ-YAK-UP. Sorry for seeming stupid but I wanna be able to say I knew him when he makes the breakthrough. The kid is set for the big time. I know a guy who’s obsessed with dutch football and he’s already heard his name mentioned in regards future greats.
Read the update on AFC website!! Great Striker. Good luck!!!
I agree with you about the weakest for few years. Compare this team with the team that reached the semi-finals with the likes of Merida, Lansbury, Barazite, Gibbs, Traore, Randall, Simpson, Mannone (much better than Shea) and others.
But in this competition I think often the strongest teams are not necessarily the ones that brings the most good players through. We get to the academy all the best players we can find, whereas to the first team we just bring in players that fir into the team and play position we are in need for improvement in. So often a team in the Youth Cup can be very successful because they just fit so well together, without having any great players. Having said so, we still have some great players in this squad, on of who is the finest product in this academy’s history, Jack Wilshere.
i wnt 2 no d sporting still own FONTE or do we??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Just on our search for a new dm, why the hell are we not hijacking Boltom’s move for Veloso who said that the price quoted for him was too much when surely a team like us could afford 15m+. The other one is Angelo Palombo from Samp who are looking at a bid of 12m from Fiorentina, a superb player, one of the best cm’s in italy, would absolutely fit our bill but im afraid we are concentrating too much on arshavin to even notice these players. Although you never know with wenger.
What do you think?
Hes only quoting what some are saying
coquelin replaces howie on the banner eh JS?
As with SebCesc, I thought that you had said that Rui Fonte was on loan to us until the end of the season??
1-0 Lansbury(pen)
http://www.safc.com/index.php?page_id=16764
Latest score, Sunderland 0-1 Arsenal , Lansbury (Pen5)
Fonte is off and hopefully Randall to follow
http://www.safc.com/news/?page_id=16764
2-0 to arsenal @ half-time
2-0 at ht, lansbury 2 pens
coquellin is playing tonight.
And at HT, sunderland 0 – arsenal 2
Lansbury 5(pen), 38(pen)
goalie is Lee as J states not Shea as on the official arsenal site
sunderland down to 10 men…. I feel like a ticker! no replies please…
3-0 jet. getting this from sunderland website. I’m very very sad I know. Get me a life on a Friday!
afobe 4-0
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I saw the first two goals but haven’t seen the second two – wilshire is amazing