A brace from Daishawn Redan plus a header from Marc Guehi
saw Chelsea come from a goal behind to defeat Arsenal in the First Leg of the
FA Youth Cup Final at Stamford Bridge and take a two goal lead into Monday’s
Second Leg at the Emirates.
On a sodden Friday night in the West of the capital the two
London rivals came head to head in the first leg of this seasons Youth Cup
Finale, and it was the hosts who posed more of an attacking threat in the
opening exchanges, and probably should have been a couple of goals to the good
by the half hour mark, however it remained goalless.
That was until ten minutes before half time when the Gunners,
who had had a couple of attacks on the break after soaking up quite a bit of
Chelsea pressure, who broke the deadlock as Xavier Amaechi, who impressed in
the semi final second leg against Blackpool, was played in and he chipped the
keeper before seeing the ball go in off the post to give Arsenal the lead.
And despite plenty of hosts pressure it was the Gunners who
held that lead at the break, it had been the perfect smash and grab performance
from the visitors up till this point.
Half Time Chelsea 0 Arsenal 1
The opening exchanges of the second half went pretty much the
same way as the first half had gone, with Chelsea on the front foot but finding
the wall of Arsenal defenders in their way, however in the 66th
minute Chelsea finally managed to break through when second half substitute Redan
got through on the right and fired an effort into the far corner and the Blues were
level.
You felt the hosts would go on and maybe grab another as the
goal gave them even more impetus although the hosts had to be aware of Arsenal
and their counter attacks and you could not rule out one of these restoring the
Gunners lead.
But in the 77th minute Chelsea found a second to
take the lead in this one, and deservedly so in all honestly, as a ball returned
back into the box saw the giant centre half Guehi nod home a downward header
from close range and give The Blues the advantage finally in this tie.
The Blues knew a third would certainly put one hand on the
trophy going into the second leg on Monday whilst The Gunners would know only a
one goal deficit wouldn’t be a disaster so didn’t want to concede again,
however with five minutes left Chelsea found a third after poor defending from
the visitors.
A ball in saw a defender miskick his clearance and the
dangerous Redan pounced on this error to nip in and finish beyond the keeper
and give Chelsea a two goal cushion going into Monday’s Second Leg in North
London. So Chelsea with one hand on the
cup, and the Gunners have it all to do if they want to clinch the FA Youth Cup
this season.
Full Time Chelsea 3 Arsenal 1
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