Jack Wilshere has hailed one of the "top moments" in his footballing career after Arsenal's under-18s booked their place in the FA Youth Cup final with a dramatic victory over Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium.
The game got off to a frantic start as City were reduced to 10 men inside the opening 10 minutes when Lakyle Samuel was sent off for a professional foul. Michal Rosiak scored from the resulting free kick to put Arsenal in the ascendency, but the visitors struck back in the second half with a Justin Oboavwoduo strike 15 minutes from time.
The game then headed into extra time and looked set for penalties, before Myles Lewis-Skelly popped up with a 121st minute header to send the Gunners to their first FA Youth Cup final since 2018. This sparked joyous full time scenes at the Emirates, and after the dust had settled slightly, Wilshere went on to admit that the breathtaking encounter would go down as one of the greatest moments of his career.
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“Honestly, and right now it’s obviously fresh, but that feeling…I can’t even explain what it feels like, that moment," he told reporters after the game. "It’s relief, joy, love for the players, emotions - everything. For me, right now, it feels like one of the top moments of my career as coach, obviously as a coach as I am young coach, but as a player as well it feels like it’s up there."
It's one of several late winners that Arsenal's under-18s have managed en route to the FA Cup final, after last gasp victories against Newcastle and Cambridge United earlier in the competition. On top of that the Gunners were also able to come from two down to beat Watford 4-2 in the fifth round, and Wilshere believes the character of his players is what has got them this far.
“This team keeps doing it," he said of his side's record. "They are so good and so easily coachable, then this creates a belief in them and you see it at the end. They scare me because they leave one-on-one on the backline, but they want to push, they want to attack. I love that spirit of let’s go and score a goal.”
In many ways the under-18s penchant for thrilling finales echoes that of the first team. Late wins over Bournemouth, Manchester United, Aston Villa and many more have helped propel Mikel Arteta's side to the top of the Premier League table. Wilshere believes this ethos of fighting till the dying seconds of matches has trickled down to his young side.
"I think back to my days as a player and that is in the Arsenal DNA," he said of the team's never say die attitude. "When you walk around the training ground and you see never give up, play until the last minute, quotes from Arsene – that’s in our DNA. I think Mikel has done a top job of using that to get this winning feeling through the whole club. I’ve said so many times before, if the first team keep raising the bar, then we have to. I thought we really pushed that tonight."
Arsenal will now host one of West Ham or Southampton at the Emirates Stadium in the final. Having taken part as a player the last time the Gunners won the competition in 2009, Wilshere is hopeful of having a full house for what will be an emotional evening for him.
"I hope so, I think we can [get a big crowd]," he said. "I don’t see why not. Obviously when we played Millwall in the first round, I thought it would be nice to get through to the final, I won it as a player, it would be nice. But then I tried to not think about that and we had some tough moments - Watford 2-0, Newcastle on the ropes, Cambridge 2-1 down. It hasn't sunk in [that we are in the final]. It’s a special feeling and it (the final) will be a very special occasion, one of the best in my life in my opinion. At the moment it’s a bit raw still.
"I watched the Youth Cup final last year and there was 60,000. And I know that our fans are better than Man United fans, so we’ll have 70,000.”
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