Arsenal win Academy League Final

Arsenal won the Premier Academy League Final by beating rivals Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 at White Hart Lane.



Striker Rhys Murphy scored the only goal of the match when he fired home from close-range after the break as Arsenal found the goal their dominance deserved, writes Stewart Coggin.

The two teams secured their place in Sunday's showpiece by coming through the semi-finals after topping their respective academy groups.

Indeed, Arsenal won their group by a hefty 25 points and their quality was there for all to see at White Hart Lane.

Danny Rose fired wide for Tottenham early on before team-mate Jon Obika, who recently spent time on loan at Yeovil Town, turned Arsenal left-back Tom Cruise, only to see his low effort comfortably saved by Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.

Arsenal soon found their rhythm, with Gille Sunu turning impressively on the edge of the area and forcing a fine stop from Oscar Jansson.

Murphy curled a presentable chance over the bar and Jansson turned Henri Lansbury's low shot away for a corner as Arsenal stamped their authority on a feisty first-half.

The Gunners came desperately close in the 39th minute when the impressive Francis Coquelin saw his close-range header saved by Jansson, with Spurs eventually clearing their lines.

hammered home

Steve Bould's side really should have gone ahead a minute later when Lansbury shot wide with only Jansson to beat.

Arsenal took the lead four minutes after the break when French striker Sunu's cross from the right was hammered home by Murphy in front of the pocket of jubilant Arsenal supporters who had made the short trip to see this final.

This under-18 side were displaying glimpses of the skill and technique that make the first-team so watchable and some excellent approach play in the 55th minute resulted in the gangly Jay Emmanuel-Thomas going through on goal only to see the chance snuffed out by a combination of defender and goalkeeper.

Murphy fired over on the hour as a spate of substitutes were introduced, with both sides making changes.

Spurs were barely threatening a combative Gunners outfit for whom Coquelin and Emmanuel Frimpong were tenacity personified in the centre of the park.

The unpredictable Emmanuel-Thomas weaved his way through on 70 minutes before seeing his goal-bound shot deflected up in the air and cleared off the line by Spurs centre-back Steven Caulker.

Arsenal were reduced to ten men seconds later when Luke Ayling picked up his second yellow card for bringing down Obika when the Spurs man was closing on the Gunners goal.

Bould had to reorganise, opting to put attacker Emmanuel-Thomas into central defence, and ultimately deploying Sanchez Watt in a lone role up-front.

dangerous cross

Spurs pressed on, and Arsenal full-back Craig Eastmond made a hash of his clearance only for the ball to fall fortunately into the path of Szczesny.

Obika then teed up Adam Smith who blasted wide, before Emmanuel-Thomas cleared a dangerous cross from Andros Townsend.

Spurs huffed and puffed but it was Arsenal who came closest to putting a more realistic slant on the scoreline in the closing minutes.

First Watt struck a powerful left-footed shot which was expertly turned away by the overworked Jansson. From the resulting corner, Emmanuel-Thomas produced a sumptuous piece of skill, teasing the ball between two Spurs players and passing to Lansbury who fired just wide of the far post.

There was an explosive ending as the Ghana-born Frimpong smashed a fierce effort against the crossbar in injury time after collecting a pass from Coquelin.

The four minutes of added-on time elapsed and the Arsenal players celebrated the first half of a possible trophy double.

They face Liverpool on Friday in the first leg of the FA Youth Cup Final.