Our youngsters will travel to London on the back of some superb recent displays with our 4-0 and 8-3 wins against Blackburn and Leeds respectively sending us six points clear at the top of the Under-18 Premier League North table.
Now our attentions to the Premier League Cup. City boast a superb record in the competition, having won the tournament for two years running in 2019 and 2020 before it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic last season.
And Wilkinson says the incentive of trying to potentially achieve a hat-trick will act as an extra motivating factor for his squad.
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“We’ve had a really positive six or seven weeks since we came back from Christmas,” Wilkinson said.
“The level of performance has been really good, the players’ mentality has been excellent and you can see the growth I think in in the whole squad from August to now.
“The maturity in the performances has really started to shine through so the players are in a good place and in terms of this part of the season and where you want to be, they have kind of got themselves into that position.
“In terms of the Cup, I think the sort of feeling the players get from the success of previous groups when, as younger players, they have seen their older peers within the Academy winning tournaments and winning competitions, I think it gives them that hunger to go on and back that up themselves.
“I think we’ve had that in the last three or four years in the Under-18 PL Cup and it’s definitely created a winning mentality which is not only evident in those groups that have won that particular competition, but it transfers down.
“It’s almost like the baton being passed over.
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“So, I think that’s been great and it’s something you know the players will be aware of and determined to try and keep the tradition going
“It’s now a case of trying to really put the foot down and get over the line in these different competitions.”
Though City will go into the game on the back of a fine run of form, Wilkinson is under no illusions as to the size of the task on Saturday.
Fulham have established a fine record at Academy level and reached the Under-18 Premier League national final last season where we secured a 3-0 victory.
But Wilkinson says that is his players can maintain our recent level of performance it should stand us in good stead.
“Fulham are very strong. They beat Chelsea last week in a league game so anyone that beats Chelsea you know that they are due respect,” the head coach added.
“So, we know they’re good side; they’ve got some good individual players and they’ve also got a playing identity which suits them and we’re expecting a very tough game.
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“But we’re confident that if we go about our business in the right manner then we can come through with a victory and in a place in the semi-finals.
“We’ve had two big performances in the last week or so. I thought we were excellent against Blackburn, really, really good. It was a Man City performance in terms of the way we had control of the game and really sort of dominated really from start to finish I was really pleased.
“At Leeds last weekend, it was a little bit more open as the 8-3 score line suggests but in terms of confidence and mentality the lads are in a good place, and you know it’s probably come from the form they have shown since Christmas.”
