Chelsea defeated Manchester City 3-1 to win the first leg of the FA Youth Cup final, with goals from Tammy Abraham and Dominic Solanke. Watch video highlights here.
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The Blues dominated possession early on, and took the lead after just seven minutes. Captain Charlie Colkett played a diagonal ball to Abraham on the right hand corner of the penalty area. The striker took the ball down on the right flank on the edge of the area, and rifled in an unstoppable shot into the far corner.
Chelsea failed to keep their advantage for long, however, with City level on their next attack.
Brandon Barker turned in midfield and ran between the Chelsea lines, and upon drawing out the defence, was able to play a clever through ball to Isaac Buckley-Ricketts, who finished at an acute angle.
However, Chelsea’s superiority told throughout the game – and Manchester City found it particularly difficult to play the ball out of defence against the Blues’ high press.
Christian Haug in the City goal was often wayward with his distribution, putting his team under unnecessary pressure.
Just as they started to come back into the game though, Man City shot themselves in the foot.
Dreadful defending at a Chelsea corner saw the Blues win every single ball in the area, with first Izzy Brown having his header saved by Haug before Abraham put his team back in front.
Manchester City were pushing hard for an equaliser, but Chelsea were always dangerous on the counter, and they were finding increasing space in the attacking third.
A risky pass into midfield from Haug put his team in yet more difficulty, and Chelsea’s high press once again proved Man City’s undoing.
Put through on goal by a fine through ball, Solanke’s pace put him beyond the City defence. A drop of the shoulder wrong-footed Haug, and he was able to finish emphatically at the near post.