Manchester City Under-18s beat Sunderland on Tuesday afternoon to top the table with five games left to play

Manchester City Under-18s leapfrogged Manchester United at the top of the Under-18s Premier League table after a thumping 4-1 win over Sunderland. Oliver Reiss made six changes from the team that beat Blackburn by the same scoreline in the FA Youth Cup on Friday night as the young Blues made progress in another competition.

Teddie Lamb got the opening goal of the game to continue his promising first year with the club, stepping up to convert a penalty after being brought down in the box. Christian Dunbar-McDonald then skipped in from the left wing and produced a confident finish.

Dante Headley made it 3-0 on the stroke of half-time to complete a comprehensive opening from Reiss’s side and Kylan Midwood made it four as the game approached the hour mark. Despite their dominance, City goalkeeper Ben Vickery was forced to make a number of excellent saves as the match wore on and Lewis Campbell scored a consolation for the visitors with 15 minutes left to play.

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The result was never in doubt though and City’s win moves them level on points with United at the top of the Under-18 Premier League. The young Blues top the table owing to their goal difference of +48 beating United’s +39 – and they also have a game in hand to try to stretch their lead further.

There are just five games left for City in the league format, and at the end of it either they or United will progress to the national final where they will play the team that finishes top in the southern division; Chelsea currently lead Spurs by two points with four games to go. City made the final last season but lost a tight game to Aston Villa.

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The Blues are also through to their third successive FA Youth Cup final, and will find out their opponents on Friday when United host Crystal Palace at Old Trafford. The final will be played at City next month, with details of a date and location still to be confirmed.

Manchester City Under-18s beat Blackburn Rovers 4-1 to progress to the final of the FA Youth Cup, with Ryan McAidoo impressing again

Ryan McAidoo will not be a new name to many Manchester City fans. The 17-year-old winger made his senior debut in the FA Cup demolition of Exeter and got a goal at the end to cap a promising debut. Assistant coach Pep Lijnders called his pressing ‘insane’ and said that McAidoo was a ‘serious player’.

That has been the sense at City since he joined from Chelsea’s academy two years ago, with the youngster matching his flair and creativity with an ethos of hard work and ambition as he tries to push closer and closer to Pep Guardiola’s first team. Another appearance in the FA Cup against Salford followed, and McAidoo has regularly trained with the senior this season.

If you stop performing you stop training, and there is also an expectation that you will go down and make the difference whenever you play in the academy to keep your sharpness up with match minutes. In McAidoo’s case, that has certainly been met.

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City were strong favourites to beat Blackburn in their FA Youth Cup semi-final on Friday night but the visitors surprised them after striker Valentin Joseph took advantage of a defensive mistake, and frustration was starting to kick in as the first half continued and the game was slowed down whenever City lost control of it. That was until McAidoo stepped up, cut inside his man and fired in a low shot that got City level.

The goal was good and what followed was even better, McAidoo showing no interest in celebrating, instead running back to his own half and beckoning his teammates to follow him. They did, and that set the tone for a relentless City to turn up the heat.

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Floyd Samba missed from the penalty spot a few minutes later to leave the game level at the break, yet minutes into the second half Teddie Lamb got City’s noses in front and they never stopped pushing. Reigan Heskey scored from the spot and then Oliver Tevenan made it 4-1 with a crashing effort from the edge of the box.

Having survived their first-half scare, City have now booked their place in the FA Youth Cup final for a third successive year and are keen to make up for the disappointment of losing last year’s showpiece game to Aston Villa; Crystal Palace or Manchester United await this time. If McAidoo can be involved, City will be all the better for it.

Manchester City academy stars Reigan and Jaden Heskey are hoping to follow in their father’s footsteps by playing at the top level.

Former England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey has admitted he didn’t encourage his sons Reigan and Jaden to pursue a career in football after his experiences of racism and other issues in the game. Both of Heskey’s sons play for Manchester City, with Jaden currently on his first loan spell at Championship club Sheffield Wednesday.

The brothers made their debuts for City earlier this season in a 2-0 win at Huddersfield Town in the Carabao Cup. Since then, Reigan has been an unused substitute for the Blues in five Premier League matches. The Heskey brothers have the perfect role model as they forge a career in football.

Their father won the UEFA Cup, Super Cup, FA Cup and League Cup during his time with Liverpool and Leicester City. He was also capped 62 times by England and featured at two World Cups. But despite his success, the 48-year-old insists he didn’t push Reigan or Jaden into football after the racist abuse he suffered during his playing career.

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“It’s a difficult conversation to have with them [about racism],” Heskey told BBC Radio 5 Live. “How do you tell your sons that you have 30,000 people making monkey chants at you?

“How do you explain that? And then explain why they were doing it, because I don’t know why they were doing it. Whether it be banter, whether it be… whatever it may be, trying to put people off the game, I don’t know. That’s the thing, you have got to ask them.

“I’ve spoken about this, whether I really wanted them to play football at all. Not just that [racism], but everything that comes with it.

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“It has the biggest of big highs and then the lowest of lows at times as well. So, you’re on this rollercoaster and I never really wanted them to go on that journey.

“But then they started to play and then you realise it is not my journey, it’s their journey. I’ve done mine already.

“Mine is in a totally different era anyway and hopefully they will be able to find their foot in this era and do really well as well. I never really wanted them to play and I have said that openly.”

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The Carabao Cup Final will see Arsenal v Manchester City at London’s Wembley Stadium this March.

Back in October, MEN Sport spoke to the Heskey brothers about their careers and their father’s involvement. “To be fair, he doesn’t really try and get involved too much with the technical stuff and tactical, all that sort of stuff, he just lets our coaches take over because they know what they’re doing,” Jaden explained.

“But if he sees anything more mentally, he might just say something, just encourage us if something’s not going well. He’s obviously been through it all but he doesn’t really try to get involved too much, he’s not that type of parent. I guess he just wants to be kind of a supportive parent.”