Joe Edwards says nothing is certain despite healthy lead

Joe Edwards is hoping to lead Chelsea to their second successive FA Youth Cup title on Monday night, but knows victory against Manchester City is far from secure.

The Blues take a 3-1 lead from the first-leg victory in Manchester, and will now be backed by a strong home crowd at Stamford Bridge.

But Edwards has warned his side to look back at their own semi-final tie with Tottenham Hotspur to remind them how quickly things can turn around.

“The tie is definitely far from over,” he said. 

“We came back from a two-goal deficit in our semi-final against Spurs when people thought they were in a favourable position, but we turned that around, so we know that anything can happen on the night. 

“Manchester City will come here knowing that they have to go for it at some stage and with the attacking qualities that they’ve got, they’re more than capable of doing that. 

“We’re fully expecting a tough game and we’ll give it our best shot. 

“We’re playing at home so we want to give a good account of ourselves and give the fans some exciting football.”

The west London club have become the most successful club in the Youth Cup over the past few seasons.

They are competing in their fourth consecutive final and it’s a competition which Edwards says has become an integral part of the Chelsea academy’s targets each campaign.

“It’s a competition which every club wants to do well in, but when the success for us started to build up it became a special part of what we do,” he added. 

“That’s because of the good memories which you make along the way, for all of our staff and the families of the players. 

“And there’s a lot of nice memories which we want to recreate. 

“But in knock-out competitions, it’s about your mentality because anything can happen on the night. 

"You go away from home to difficult places and face potential upsets, so to do well as consistently as we have reflects the mentality that the players coming through our system have.”