What happened...
Manchester City’s U18s made it fifteen matches unbeaten in the Premier League with a 5-2 victory over Stoke City at the City Football Academy on Wednesday.
Ian Carlo Poveda, Jadon Sancho, Lorenzo Gonzalez, Phil Foden and Joe Hardy were all on the scoresheet as Lee Carsley’s youngsters overcame their physical opponents to end the year on a high.
Having spent much of the opening 15 minutes camped out on the edge of Stoke’s box, Phil Foden’s sweeping ball out to the left for Jadon Sancho opened up the visitors.
Sancho took the ball in his stride and delivered a perfect cross for Poveda to tap home at the far post.
View highlights of the recent draw with Manchester United below:
Stoke striker Jordan Greenidge had the next chance as he fired a volley at goal from close range, only to be denied by the reflex save of Pawel Sokol.
City doubled their lead on the hour mark as Sancho cut inside and fired an effort that was deflected over Allen and into the goal.
It was 3-0 just a few minutes later as Swiss striker Gonzalez picked his spot and coolly slotted underneath Allen.
Phil Foden made it four within moments as he weaved through Stoke’s midfield and fired into the bottom corner from 25 yards.
Stoke replied with two goals of their own almost immediately as Lasse Sorensen converted a penalty box scramble and Krisztofer Szereto sent Sokol the wrong way from the spot after Latibeaudiere was adjudged to have fouled in the area.
Despite this, Stoke rarely threatened to get back in to the match and Joe Hardy sealed the victory with a drilled strike in the 88th minute.
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What it means...
Lee Carsley‘s side have 37 points from their opening fifteen games in the U18 Premier League and remain unbeaten.
City have a short break over the festive period before travelling to Liverpool on the 7 January.
Key moment...
As Stoke striker Jordan Greenidge bore down on goal in the 14th minute, it looked likely that Stoke would take the lead. Latibeaudiere’s covering tackle kept the visitors out and a minute later City were in front.
Man of the match....
Joel Latibeaudiere - On a typically terrible Manchester day against a Stoke side that lived up to the cliche of the giant Stoke side that first arrived in the Premier League, City had to be strong.
Latibeadiere led his team excellently both on and off the ball and although he was whistled for a penalty, it seemed to many that he had played the ball first.
How they lined up...
Pawel Sokol continued with his place in goal.
Ed Francis and captain Joel Latibeaudiere were the enforcers at centre-back. Colin Rosler took his place on the right while Jeremie Frimpong played left-back.
In midfield, Iker Pozo sat behind Tom Dele-Bashiru and Phil Foden while Jadon Sancho and Ian Carlo Poveda flanked central striker Lorenzo Gonzalez.
