Arsenal face Southampton in the FA Youth Cup on Thursday, welcoming their opponents to Meadow Park for their fourth-round tie.

Ben Cottrell of Arsenal (Photo by Jack Thomas/Getty Images)
Ben Cottrell of Arsenal (Photo by Jack Thomas/Getty Images)

Arsenal face Southampton at 19:00 on Thursday, 9th January. The game is at Meadow Park, Borehamwood and will allow free entry without purchasing tickets first.

Arsenal overcame Cheltenham Town on penalties in the previous round, after a 0-0 draw in tough weather conditions. Meanwhile, Southampton beat Bristol Rovers 3-1. In the league, Arsenal’s last result

The FA Youth Cup is an u18 cup competition, and arguably the most prestigious youth cup available. Though the domestic leagues have increased their age limit to 23 in recent years, the youth cup remains available to u18s only.

For the most part, the team is similar to the u18 side used in the league. However, you do often get some of the younger u23 players dropping down to help out.

For example, Bukayo Saka and Xavier Amaechi spent almost the entirety of last season with the u23s. Nonetheless, they dropped down to play against Tottenham Hotspur and West Bromwich Albion in the FA Youth Cup fourth and fifth rounds.

Funnily enough, Saka is actually still young enough to feature in the competition this year, but there’s next to no chance of that. The likes of Ben Cottrell are more likely to shift down to the u18s for a game though.

Unfortunately, there are quite a lot of injury concerns. Jeorge Bird reports that Alex Kirk and Ryan Alebiosu are major doubts after injuries against Chelsea. Plus Miguel Azeez, Joel Lopez, Kido Taylor-Hart, Jason Sraha, Arthur Okonkwo and Tom Smith are all out.

Arsenal should still have a lot of talent available, with Sam Greenwood, Charlie Patino and Ben Cottrell among others to play a part in the lineup. Make sure you get on down to Borehamwood to support the youngsters.

Match Report: Arsenal u18s overcome Cheltenham Town in FA Youth Cup