Arsenal academy side to face Chelsea in cup final | OneFootball

The Arsenal u16s are set to face Chelsea in the final of the Premier League Cup in May, a repeat of the 2019 final between the same two teams.

Photo via Arsenal Academy on Twitter

Jeorge Bird reports that the Arsenal u16s will face Chelsea away from home in the Premier League Cup final on May 1st.

Whilst senior competitions generally hold cup finals at neutral venues, the same isn’t true for youth competitions. It’s standard practice for cup finals to be held at one team’s ground.

Arsenal have benefitted from that in the past, including in this very competition, but not on this occasion.

Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images

The same two teams contested the u16 Premier League Cup final once before, all the way back in 2018/19. On that occasion, the game was played on home turf for the Arsenal academy at Meadow Park in Borehamwood.

The likes of Charlie Patino, Miguel Azeez, Yunus Musah, and a 15-year-old Omari Hutchinson all featured for Arsenal that day, but Chelsea came out on top.

With any luck, this year’s final will be free entry and open to spectators like the last one was. We’ll know more once the exact venue is officially confirmed.

Photo by James Fearn/Getty Images

Arsenal have quite a few players still eligible for the u16s but playing at higher levels, such as u18 star Max Dowman and u21 regular Marli Salmon.

The club will have to decide whether those players drop down to the u16s for the final, which is not an easy call to make.

The Arsenal u18s are currently on track to be competing for the Premier League South title in May, and they have a game on May 3rd. It would be difficult for the likes of Dowman to feature in the u16 final and a key u18 league game two days later.

The Arsenal u21s could also be involved in the Premier League 2 play-offs around the same time, with qualification assured but no details of the dates of those games just yet.