Draw leaves under-23s with a battle to stay in play-offs
The under-23s drew 2-2 on Monday this week and, having lost the previous game 3-0 at Sunderland, it leaves our play-off hopes hanging by a thread even though we remain in fourth place.
We came back from 2-0 down against Norwich but it wasn’t good enough for coach Steve Stone. “We are a football club that relies heavily on all qualities; mentally, physically, tactically, technically and most of those were missing,” blasted Stone. He added: “We weren’t professional and didn’t do what we should have done as professional footballers because that is their job. They’ve got to understand that it isn’t part time.”
Where does it leave us? We are fourth with the teams finishing second to fifth earning a place in the play-offs. With Leeds just one point from the title, Stoke in second place look to have all but secured a play-off spot but there is a real battle for the other three places with most teams still in with a chance.
Wolves and us have 31 points while Crystal Palace are also currently in the play-off positions with 30 points, but we’ve played more games than most and, besides Palace, any one of Middlesbrough, Reading, Aston Villa and Sunderland could go above us should they win their games in hand. Obviously some will be playing each other but it does mean that only two of those five need to be above us at the end of the season to end our chances.
There is no doubt that we will have to win at Reading in two days time and then we might need to beat runaway leaders Leeds in our final game next month to have any chance.
It’s very recent that the top two in Division One were locked together but it has all changed now with Manchester City having moved eight points clear of Blackburn with both having four games remaining. City won their tough game against Liverpool while the other Merseyside club Everton did them a favour by beating Blackburn.
The player featured this week is Anthony Gomez Mancini who was one of our stand out players in the second half against Norwich.
The League Tables and our Fixtures and Results are both within U23/U18 Stats which can be found on the top menu.
All of last week’s results, this week’s fixtures, the leading goalscorers, our goalscorers and the current league tables are all below.
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS
Division 1
Friday 9th April
Brighton 3 Southampton 0
Everton 2 Blackburn 1
Manchester City 3 Liverpool 2
Manchester United 2 West Ham 3
Monday 12th April
Chelsea 3 Southampton 1
Derby 2 Arsenal 3
Leicester 1 Tottenham 3
Division 2
Friday 9th April
Fulham 4 Aston Villa 1
Reading 2 Middlesbrough 4
Monday 12th April
Burnley 2 Norwich 2
Crystal Palace 2 Stoke 2
Sunderland 2 West Brom 3
Wolves 4 Newcastle 0
THIS WEEK’S FIXTURES
Division 1
Friday 16th April
Brighton v Derby
Manchester City v Manchester United
Sunday 18th April
Tottenham v Chelsea
Monday 19th April
Blackburn v Liverpool
Leicester v Southampton
West Ham v Everton
Division 2
Friday 16th April
Aston Villa v Leeds
Middlesbrough v Fulham
Norwich v Sunderland
Reading v Burnley
Monday 19th April
Stoke v Newcastle
Wolves v West Brom
LEADING GOALSCORERS
Division 1
20: Liam Delap (Manchester City)
12: Connor McBride (Blackburn)
10: Joe Hugill (Manchester United)
9: Folarin Balogun (Arsenal), Nathan Broadhead (Everton), Felix Nmecha (Manchester City), Cole Palmer (Manchester City)
8: Kion Etete (Tottenham), Ellis Simms (Everton), Jack Stretton (Derby)
Division 2
12: Louie Barry (Aston Villa)
11: Fabio Carvalho (Fulham), Joe Gelhardt (Leeds)
10: Jean-Pierre Tiehi (Fulham)
9: Josh Hawkes (Sunderland), Aaron Ramsey (Aston Villa), Ethan Varian (Stoke)
8: Sam Greenwood (Leeds), Joel Mumbongo (Burnley), Max Thompson (Burnley)
BURNLEY’S GOALSCORERS
8: Joel Mumbongo, Max Thompson
6: Lewis Richardson
2: Ashley Barnes, Rob Harker, Anthony Gomez Mancini, Ryan Viggars
1: Dara Costelloe, Owen Dodgson, Richard Nartey, own goals
CURRENT LEAGUE TABLES
Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
Manchester City | 20 | 13 | 5 | 2 | 65 | 28 | 44 |
Blackburn | 20 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 44 | 32 | 36 |
Tottenham | 20 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 38 | 29 | 35 |
Chelsea | 20 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 39 | 29 | 33 |
Liverpool | 20 | 9 | 3 | 8 | 41 | 42 | 30 |
Derby | 20 | 9 | 3 | 8 | 35 | 39 | 30 |
Everton | 20 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 33 | 25 | 29 |
Manchester United | 20 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 47 | 49 | 28 |
Brighton | 22 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 32 | 40 | 26 |
Arsenal | 21 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 33 | 38 | 24 |
West Ham | 20 | 4 | 5 | 11 | 26 | 43 | 17 |
Leicester | 20 | 5 | 2 | 13 | 31 | 49 | 17 |
Southampton | 21 | 4 | 4 | 13 | 28 | 49 | 16 |
Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
Leeds | 21 | 16 | 1 | 4 | 54 | 25 | 49 |
Stoke | 20 | 12 | 1 | 7 | 37 | 28 | 37 |
Wolves | 20 | 9 | 4 | 7 | 34 | 28 | 31 |
Burnley | 22 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 34 | 36 | 31 |
Crystal Palace | 21 | 9 | 3 | 9 | 41 | 37 | 30 |
Middlesbrough | 20 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 37 | 30 | 28 |
Reading | 20 | 9 | 1 | 10 | 33 | 48 | 28 |
Aston Villa | 20 | 8 | 3 | 9 | 41 | 40 | 27 |
Sunderland | 20 | 8 | 3 | 9 | 36 | 37 | 27 |
Fulham | 21 | 8 | 2 | 11 | 36 | 44 | 26 |
Norwich | 20 | 7 | 3 | 10 | 26 | 29 | 24 |
Newcastle | 20 | 6 | 3 | 11 | 26 | 42 | 21 |
West Brom | 19 | 6 | 2 | 11 | 31 | 42 | 20 |
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