Not since the Busby Babes has a club managed to win the FA Youth Cup five years in a row. Chelsea followed in the footsteps of that legendary Manchester United team of the 1950s in style last night as they crushed their local rivals.
The Blues, far and away England’s dominant academy setup, have been without proper competition on their romp to the trophy, racking up 33 goals in eight games against only one conceded, and secured the trophy with a commanding win at the Emirates.
Arsenal threatened with the odd counter-punch across a tie they led for 31 first-leg minutes but the highly-rated Emile Smith-Rowe and Xavier Amaechi were unable to do much damage to a side for whom only the very best will suffice.
Chelsea under-18 boss Jody Morris said: “It was an emphatic victory in the end but it certainly didn’t feel like it at half-time. The tempo was poor, the quality on the ball was lackadaisical. It was almost flat when we scored.
“I said to them at half-time ‘Do you want to crawl over the line and make history or do you want to do it in style? Because if you want that you’ll have to do a lot better than what you did in the first half.’”
They responded to Morris’s demands in emphatic fashion. Billy Gilmour’s strike from the edge of the box was the only goal of the first half but Chelsea briskly and decisively added to their lead in the second as Callum Hudson-Odoi took charge of the contest.
The 17-year-old forward showed remarkable composure to leave two Arsenal defenders on the floor when a cross came his way before slotting home the Blues second and he added to the hosts’ misery by teeing up substitute Tino Anjorin for the third before slotting in the fourth and final goal when he pounced on a clumsy first touch by substitute Zach Medley.
The next challenge for Hudson-Odoi is to ensure his role in the Chelsea first team is more than a token one.
He insisted amid the celebrations that he was ready to add to his four first-team appearances this season but Morris had a warning for the youngster.
He told Standard Sport: “He’ll get a lot of plaudits tonight because he showed — in glimpses — that he’s got real, real quality but he also showed in other moments that he needs to mature and follow instructions.
“Nobody would want to see him succeed more than me. I love what I see him do with a football but at times you want to shake him.”
A 7-1 defeat was harsh on the Gunners, who more than held their own in the first half of both ties, Kwame Ampadu admitted that his side lacked the ruthlessness that has propelled Chelsea to league and cup dominance.
“We gave them a couple of soft goals with mistakes,” he said. “It just wasn’t to be, they were just too strong.”
