Arsenal Under-21s are two steps from Wembley as they visit Wigan Athletic in Papa John’s Trophy

Arsenal’s Under-21s side will aim to become just the second-ever academy team to reach the semi-finals of the Papa John’s Trophy when they visit League One table toppers Wigan Athletic on Tuesday evening.

Outside of Football League clubs, only Chelsea’s academy have managed to produce a team to date which reached the last four of the competition, that coming in 2018 when the Blues lost on penalties to eventual winners Lincoln City.

Coincidentally, it was Chelsea’s Under-21s who the Gunners blew away in the last round to reach the last eight, claiming a 4-1 win at the Emirates with four different scorers on the night including Marcelo Flores and Omari Hutchinson.

And when the draw for the quarter-finals came around, Arsenal were the first name out of the hat, but they are not allowed to play on home turf as they are against a Football League team, so it will be them who have to make the trip to Wigan’s DW stadium rather than the Latics heading to North London.

The Task ahead

While the young Gunners are 180 minutes from a day out on the big stage at Wembley, taking the first step has come against, arguably, the favourites for the competition at this stage.

Relegated from the Premier League in 2013 after winning their one-major honour to date a few weeks earlier, Wigan currently top the League One table on goal difference and have four league games in hand on some of their closest promotion rivals.

Leam Richardson’s side are unbeaten in 17 matches in all competitions dating back to late-October last year and are still fighting strong in this season’s FA Cup as well as their exploits in both League One and the Football League Trophy.

It was a resounding 6-0 win away at League Two strugglers Oldham Athletic in the last round of this competition for the Latics to set up Tuesday’s meeting with Arsenal’s Academy, and many will undoubtedly expect the League One side to make light work of the Gunners.

Attendance at the DW

Since the introduction of academy sides into the Football League Trophy back in the 2016/17 campaign, attendances at games in the competition have dropped across the board with some supporters even choosing to boycott matches involving youth teams.

In their last EFL Trophy home game against Shrewsbury Town in November, Wigan recorded an attendance of 1,121 – that figure included away fans making the journey from Shropshire.

Compare that to the fixture at the DW against the same opponents in the league just a few weeks later, and there were 8,098 in attendance.

It isn’t expected that there will be many travelling supporters from North London ahead of Tuesday night’s 7pm kick-off. Given that the hosts have chosen to open only the West Stand for the clash, it would appear that another low attendance could be on the cards.

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