Our youngsters face southern section winners West Ham in the showpiece event at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday 10 May, with kick-off scheduled for 19:00 (UK) - which is available to watch on CITY+ and Recast.
The tie represents our third consecutive appearance in the showpiece fixture. And having lifted the trophy in the past two seasons, we now aim to become the first side to win three national titles in a row.
City were crowned northern title champions last month, finishing four points clear of Sunderland in what was an exhilarating regional title race.
West Ham, meanwhile, enjoyed a tremendous term which saw them 17 points clear of second-placed Fulham at the season’s end.
And Wilkinson has called on his players to savour the clash with the Londoners.
“Most players don’t get the chance to play in many finals in their career, whether that’s as a youth player or a senior player,” the head coach explained.
“For some players this will be their second year as Under-18s and they’ve won two Northern leagues and one national already, with the chance of a second.
“We’ve been in a great place in the last two or three years in terms of the level of player we’ve produced and it’s just a case of reminding them they’ve done fantastically well to get here. It’s not something that happens all the time.
“This is a great opportunity for them to create their own little bit of history.”
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The tantalising fixture with West Ham is finely poised, with the Hammers totalling the same number of points as Wilkinson’s side in the domestic campaign (57).
Alongside their southern section dominance, Kevin Keen’s side’s formidable form also translated in the FA Youth Cup as they lifted the trophy following an outstanding 5-1 win over Arsenal in north London.
As a result, Wilkinson is under no illusions that City will face the sternest test on Wednesday night.
He added: “West Ham deserve enormous credit for the way they’ve performed this season in both the league and they won the FA Youth Cup in convincing fashion.
“It’s been the same in their league in the southern section. They amassed a huge total of points and were completely deserved winners, no doubt about that.
“They have an outstanding team at this level in terms of individually and collectively they play as a team really well.”
Watch Wilkinson’s full interview in the video above…
