(Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Arsenal's first team may fallen have short of repeating the feats of Micheal Thomas and company 20 years ago, but the club's Young Guns are on course for writing their own piece of Anfield history after outshining Liverpool in the first leg of the FA Youth Cup final tonight at Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal will take an almost unassailable 4-1 lead into second leg, which takes place this Tuesday—exactly 20 years since Arsenal's most famous victory.

Arsenal took a two goal lead through Gilles Sunu and a Jack Wiltshire penalty, but were pegged back by a Alex Kacaniklic. In the second half, a rampant Arsenal stretched their lead to a three-goal margin through Sanchez Watt and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas.

Wilshere, who became the club's youngest ever first team player earlier in the season, was the star of the show but the Arsenal team was littered with accomplished performances.

Joining a crowd of 33,662 inside the stadium, Arsene Wenger could afford an inward smile from his watching brief in the stands as tangible evidence of his youth policy started to bear fruit.

This team has already won the Academy League, and it is hard to see how the players can benefit from playing football at this level for much longer. Arsenal made a good Liverpool side look ordinary. Henri Lansbury, starting on the right wing, benefited from time at Scunthorpe this season, scoring four goals in 18 matches. All of these players look ready for some first team experience in the lower leagues.

Steve Bould's side actually looked a little cagey in the opening minutes as Liverpool asserted themselves well and made some positive inroads. But an early thigh injury to Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong meant Arsenal had to change formation. Striker Sanchez Watt came on and Jack Wilshere dropped back from the role Cesc Fabregas has recently occupied behind the striker, into a more orthodox central midfield role.

Suddenly, the diminutive playmaker was finding pockets of space and pulling all the strings. His turn and pass in the 20th minute realeased Lansbury, who slipped the ball first time into the the path of Sunu. The French striker's first touch was perfect and his second was dispatched into the bottom left corner to give the Young Guns the lead.

After 33 minutes, Thomas looked to cross from a free kick, but floated his attempt fooled even himself as he hit the left upright. Watt was quickest to the rebound but he was fouled by a rash tackle from Karl Clair, who was making his first start in the competition.

It was an easy decision for referee Lee Mason and Wilshere drilled home the penalty like a seasoned pro. Arsenal were exuding confidence now.

Perhaps a little too much. Within 100 seconds, Liverpool brought the tie back to life and deserved their goal on the balance of play, a cracking right foot volley by Kacaniklic after his first attempt had been blocked.

Arsenal snuffed out any thoughts of a Liverpool comeback in the second half and utterly overwhelmed the visitors.

The pace and accuracy of the Arsenal passing was pleasing on the eye, as one slick move succeeded another.

A series of defence-splitting Wilshere through balls finally produced a goal when Watt fastened onto a fine pass and delivered the finish to match with an audacious little chip over goalkeeper Dean Bouzanis in the 57th minute. A sublime goal that resembled Wenger's blueprint in the flesh.

Less than ten minutes later, mounting Arsenal pressure led to the inevitable, but this time from a corner. Lansbury lifted it in from the left and Emmanuel-Thomas—who was sensational in the second half—looped a near-post flick on up and over the players on the line to make the score 4-1.

That one didn't belong to Wenger—it was all Steve Bould. Anyone remember Sampdoria in 1995?

Arsenal swaggered through the remainder of the game, and substitute Rhys Murphy had a goal incorrectly chalked off for offside after an outstanding strike on the turn.

Liverpool couldn't cope with the movement of Arsenal's play. When the visitors did get a sniff of the ball, the Gunners closed down their opponents emphatically. Francis Coquelin was particularly impressive in this role alongside Wilshere in midfield.

Liverpool will have to take the positives from their opening because after that they struggled to keep their shape. Thomas Ince, son of Paul, looked sharp upfront, and Arsenal will need to keep him quiet again to prevent a shock turnaround.

So Arsenal head to Anfield looking for silverware in the famous yellow shirt once again. This time Liverpool need the miracle, but, as we saw 20 years ago, anything can happen.

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