The under-19s quest for the league title and consequent qualification for the play-off semi-finals took a severe blow on Saturday with this defeat at Ipswich. See this report from the East Anglian Daily Times. The young Gunners remain two points ahead of Aston Villa, but have played two games more with just one game, against Villa, remaining. Villa were due to play Charlton on Saturday - I believe that match was postponed because Charlton were playing an FA youth cup semi-final the same day, but haven't been able to confirm this.

The upshot is now that the title is out of Arsenal's hands. Even if they beat Villa next Saturday, if Villa win their other two games (and ominously, their final match is against Tottenham), they will win the title by a point.

Update Tues 1.4.03: Aston Villa beat Charlton 3-0 yesterday in their rearranged match, and now lead Arsenal by a point with a game in hand. Arsenal must now beat Villa next Saturday and hope that Spurs avoid defeat against Villa the following week to win the league title and qualify for the playoffs. The young Villains have won their last 6 games...

See the ArseWeb youth team page for the table and further stats.