text: Two of England’s most ambitious and well-resourced academies go head-to-head on Monday night as Manchester City play Chelsea in the first leg of the FA Youth Cup final. Both teams are packed with talented players eager to make an impression in front of the TV cameras and stake their claim for first-team involvement in the seasons to come. Ahead of the match at City’s Academy Stadium we tell you everything you need to know. Dominic Solanke (second right) scores for Chelsea against Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Youth League final . WHAT’S THE OCCASION? It’s the first leg of the FA Youth Cup final and it’ll take place at City’s 7,200-capacity Academy Stadium, in the shadow of the main Etihad Stadium and part of their £200m Etihad Campus that opened last year. The match kicks off at 7.45pm and will be shown live on ITV4. The second leg takes place next Monday at Stamford Bridge. HOW DID THE TEAMS GET THERE? City started their campaign with a 2-0 win over Oxford United in the third round just before Christmas, with goals from Marcus Wood and Bersant Celina sealing a comfortable win. Jason Wilcox’s team really had their shooting boots on in the fourth round, thrashing Coventry City 8-2. Brandon Barker was the star with three of them, while Thierry Ambrose (2), Pablo Maffeo, Javairo Dilrosun and Denzeil Boadu also cashed in. Man City's Thierry Ambrose (centre) scores his second goal during the 8-2 victory over Coventry . Manchester City's Isaac Buckley Ricketts (left) celebrates scoring during the semi-final against Leicester . It wasn’t as straightforward in the next round, with a solitary Celina strike beating Stoke City, but City were back to their free-scoring best in beating Crewe Alexandra 6-1 in the last eight. Having fallen behind early on, City stormed back to win thanks to goals from Aaron Nemane, Barker (2), Boadu, Celina and Ambrose. That set up a two-legged semi-final with Leicester City and they were very keen to get the job done, winning the home first leg 3-0. Nemane (2) and Boadu continued their scoring form. The second leg at the King Power Stadium was a formality and, having fallen behind to a second-half penalty, two goals in stoppage time from Isaac Buckley and Barker sealed a 5-1 aggregate win. Chelsea started their campaign at the beginning of December and were drawn away to Leeds United. An Izzy Brown penalty and a late second from Dominic Solanke got the Blues Youth Cup defence underway. Huddersfield Town were beaten 6-1 in the fourth round, with England under 18 star Solanke scoring a hat-trick. Tammy Abraham grabbed two and Kasey Palmer rounded off an emphatic win. And Joe Edwards’ team went goal crazy again in the fifth round, beating Swansea 6-0. This time it was Abraham scoring a treble and Solanke adding two. Palmer also got on the scoresheet. A tough trip to Newcastle United followed but the Blues finally prevailed in extra time with Brown, Solanke and Abraham on the scoresheet in a 3-0 win at St James’ Park. That set up a tasty semi-final tie with Tottenham and all seemed lost when Spurs took a 2-0 lead from the first leg at White Hart Lane. Chelsea were to fall further behind in the second leg at Stamford Bridge but mounted an extraordinary fightback. Izzy Brown (centre) scores for Cheslea against Tottenham as they staged a thrilling comeback last month . Goals from Solanke and Brown gave them hope before the break, before two in two minutes from Solanke and Charlie Colkett just after turned the game on its head. A Colkett penalty then put daylight between the teams as Chelsea won a thrilling tie 5-4 on aggregate. YOUTH CUP PEDIGREE . Manchester City have twice lifted the FA Youth Cup - in 1986 and 2008. The last of those saw them defeat Chelsea 3-1 at the Etihad after a 1-1 draw in London. Slovakian Vladimir Weiss was the star performer. He went on to make just five first-team appearances for City and now plays, aged 25, for Lekhwiya in the Qatari Stars League. Chelsea have made the competition their own in recent years and this is their fifth final in six seasons. Their wins in 2010, 2012 and 2014 added to earlier successes in 1960 and 1961. WHAT ARE THEY SAYING? City coach Jason Wilcox: ‘Our job is to recruit local lads. If we can get a group of Manchester-born lads into the first team then that's the ideal scenario. To do that is going to be really difficult but that's the challenge. We don't want local lads playing for Tottenham, Arsenal or Chelsea. It’s up to us to make sure that, via the scouting, we have at least the opportunity of showing them our programme. I’m convinced once they see us it’s very difficult to walk away from.’ Chelsea coach Joe Edwards: ‘Winning breeds confidence so to have a group of players coming back for this game who were crowned European champions last week [when the Under-19s won the UEFA Youth League] is a massive plus for us. Once you get a taste of winning, you want that feeling again and again.’ PLAYERS TO WATCH . MANCHESTER CITY . Brandon Barker - speedy winger who has been on the books at City’s academy since the age of eight. The Manchester-born teenager made a positive impression with 13 goals for the under 18s last season and has since progressed into Patrick Vieira’s Elite Development Squad. Has scored six time on the Youth Cup run and is an England under 19 international. Brandon Barker is an England Under 19 international and scored 13 goals for City's under 18s last season . Thierry Ambrose - capable of playing anywhere across the forward line, Ambrose was signed from Auxerre’s youth teams in 2013. Impressed in his first season with the under 18s, scoring 22 goals in 32 matches, enough to earn the Parisian a place in the EDS team. Has scored three times during City’s Youth Cup run. Ambrose (centre) scored 22 goals in 32 matches for City's under 18s after signing from Auxerre . Aaron Nemane - another who has scored three times during the Youth Cup run. Right winger Nemane made his debut for the City under 18 side at just 14 and made quite an impact by scoring twice. Has played mainly in the under 18 team but did travel to Croatia with the EDS squad last pre-season. Aaron Nemane (right) made his debut for Manchester City's under 18 side aged just 14 . CHELSEA . Dominic Solanke - enjoying an extraordinary season and hoping to win the Youth Cup for the second successive season having scored two goals in the last five minutes to sink Fulham last year. With 34 goals for Chelsea this season, he inspired them to UEFA Youth League success a week ago having scored in every round. Should he score in the final, he will also have scored in each round of the Youth Cup. England under 18 international. Solanke (left) has been in prolific form for Chelsea both at home and abroad this season . Jay Dasilva - earned rave reviews for his performances in the Youth League, with Ian Wright suggesting he was already better than any left-back in the Premier League. Still only 16, his mature performance have seen him already established in the under 21 team. Jay Dasilva has impressed for Chelsea at left-back and is a regular for the Under 21 team . Charlie Colkett - captain of the side and an important figure in the Chelsea midfield. Will set the tempo and drive the team forward with direct runs and intelligent passes. Very impressive all season, especially on the continental stage. Charle Colkett (right) is captain of Chelsea's youth cup side and has impressed all season .
target: FA Youth Cup final first leg between Man City and Chelsea is on Monday .
  Chelsea are in their fifth final in six years and won in 2010, 2012 and 2014 .
  Man City last lifted the trophy back in 2008 after beating Chelsea 4-2 .