So a Friday night at the Emirates Stadium in North London for me as I ventured over there to see an FA Youth Cup Quarter Final tie between Arsenal and Liverpool. The fixture was a repeat of the 2009 FA Youth Cup final won by Arsenal and but the winners of this tie would face a difficult trip to Manchester City in the Semi Finals.
Ticket prices were only four pounds which is very good value to watch the future stars of the game potentially. Two of the Gunners winning side from that 2009 were current first team players Francis Coquelin and Jack Wilshire so maybe in a few years some of the current crop of the U18 squad will be stars in a few years.
A decent crowd of 3,293 turned up to watch the game,including a small band of very noisy Liverpool fans congregated at one end of the East Stand,the only stand opened up for the game. It was also unreserved seating so we took our places in row four right on the half way line, a great view of the action.
Arsenal had the first chance of the game after only five minutes when Kaylen Hinds and Stephy Mavididi combined but the latter was left frustrated as Liverpool goalkeeper Shamal George saved. Apart from this the opening twenty minutes were fairly chance less and the pace of the game quite slow, a lot slower than I thought it would be.
The game then saw the best chance of the game thus far when Ismael Bennacer thought he had given the Gunners a 21st-minute lead, but saw his well-executed free-kick rattle the crossbar and go over. It was a brief moment of excitement in the opening exchanges. The hosts did smack a chance of their own over the bar before this but it was largely a half dominated in possession from the hosts but when they got near the goal they tried to walk it over the line rather than shoot and so saw any chances snuffed out. It was no surprise that the first half ended goal less.
Arsenal 0 Liverpool 0
The second half started with the visitors missing a golden chance when they headed wide from yards out but six minutes into the second half Arsenal got their noses in front when Mavididiwas quickest to react as the ball broke in the Liverpool penalty area and the Gunners man poked home and sent the home fans into raptures (ok perhaps not!!!!).
It was certainly a much better half so far and only three minutes after the opening goal the visitors managed to level it up as Conor Masterson equalised for Liverpool in the 54th minute, taking advantage of several deflections before getting the final touch and poking home and giving the away fans something to cheer.
However the Gunners regrouped and managed to get their noses in front once again on 58 minutes as the impressive Hinds ghosted in at the back post to make the score 2-1 to the home side. Arsenal continued to try and get a probable clinching third goal and almost had it but saw Liverpool keeper Shamal George produce a magnificent save just past the hour mark from a Mavididi header before repeating the trick to deny Chris Willock soon after.
Liverpool upped the anti towards the end as they desperately tried to find a leveller but the Gunners held on fairly comfortably to progress through to the last four where they will travel to Manchester City on Saturday 9th April with a place in the final at stake.
Arsenal 2 Liverpool 1
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