FA Youth Cup final recap: Manchester City v Leeds United - first team squad member starts, updates and analysis from the Etihad
and live on Freeview channel 276
Leeds have made it to the competition’s final for the third time in the club’s history, 27 years on from beating Crystal Palace in the final of 1997. Four years earlier, the young Whites beat a Manchester United team that featured David Beckham, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs to lift the trophy in 1993.
Thirty one years on, the blue half of Manchester now stands in the way of a Whites club treble. City were drawn as the ‘home team’ for the final and sit three places and 20 points above Leeds in the under-18s Premier League north table. City also did the double over Leeds during the league campaign, recording 4-1 and 5-2 victories against Rob Etherington’s young side.
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Hide AdHere, upon landing at the Etihad, we will bring you all of the early team news and pre-match build-up to the 7pm kick-off before match updates and analysis.
Harry Gray, younger brother of Whites star Archie, will not feature this evening, the 15-year striker ruled out due to being too young as part of competition age boundaries. Whites boss Etherington has also revealed that the availability of 17-year-old midfielder Charlie Crew would depend on whether first team boss Daniel Farke needed him for Sunday’s Championship play-offs semi-final first leg at Norwich City.
The game is being streamed exclusively to FA Channels, shown on The FA Player, Emirates FA Cup X, YouTube and TikTok channels.
FA Youth Cup final: Manchester City v Leeds United recap
It's good to be back
But, first things first, let’s hope Leeds United are back here properly next season as we sit here at the Etihad again, one year on from the Whites’ 2-1 defeat last May en route to relegation under Sam Allardyce. One year later, it’s now the turn of United’s under-18s this evening who are in the final of the FA Youth Cup for the third time in the club’s history - against Manchester City’s under-18s. There’s no Harry Gray tonight - he’s too young by the law of the competition’s rules. City will be a tough proposition, they beat Leeds home and away in the league and are 20 points and three places ahead of the fifth-placed Whites in the table. But boss Rob Etherington refused to label this as any sort of David vs Goliath contest. Cole Palmer scored for City the last time they won this trophy and Phil Foden was on the scoresheet in the final a few years before that. Very likely we will have future stars on show tonight - and a big crowd is expected with Leeds having sold their 6000 allocation. Talk of around 20000 tonight including City. Team news at 7pm. No Harry Gray so Charlie Crew will be the one to watch for. He will basically not be involved if needed by Daniel Farke for Sunday’s Championship play-offs semi-final first leg at Norwich City in a 12 noon start. That, of course, and promotion, is what matters most, but a trophy for the youngsters would do very nicely indeed for starters on a huge weekend for the club. Full updates and analysis to come throughout the evening here.
Charlie Crew
Is here which is good to see, gets the chance now in an FA Youth Cup final. Has already made the first team bench three times.
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