The battle for the play-offs in Premier League 2
As we go into the final weekend of the season, the under-23s have given themselves a good chance of making the end of season play-offs in Premier League 2 after a terrific run over the past six weeks.
Any hopes of a top five finish looked remote in mid-March when we were beaten at Reading but five wins and a draw in six games since have taken us to sixth, just one place below the play-off places, and, in a tight league, only one point separates us from Stoke who are in third place.
Fulham won the league weeks ago and Wolves have already qualified for the play-offs, sitting in second place four points above Stoke who have 40 points. Then come Nottingham Forest, Norwich and Burnley who are all on 39 points, Forest and Norwich sitting above us with significantly better goal differences.
Southampton are directly below us but with three points less and with a worse goal difference. Their goal difference is significantly worse than that of either Forest or Norwich and, therefore, rules them out of any realistic chance of making the top five.
I’ve not mentioned Stoke’s goal difference; it is negative and the worst of the lot. Should they lose their final game and the next three all win, they would miss out. They play West Brom at home but we have the toughest of the lot with a trip to winners Fulham. Forest probably have the easiest game on paper with a trip to Birmingham while Norwich face Wolves at home. All four games will be played this Friday and all four kick off at 7 p.m.
With Fulham and one other to win promotion, who will they replace? Derby will be one, they are ten points adrift at the bottom of Division 1, but Chelsea, who looked the most likely, gave themselves a lifeline this week with a win at Brighton. They are now just a point behind Leeds, last season’s Division 2 champions, and with a game in hand. That leaves Leeds as the most vulnerable with Everton the only other side under any threat following Blackburn’s win against Crystal Palace.
By Friday night, everything will be clear in Division 2. By Monday night, that division will be complete with just one game remaining in Division 1 which has been won by Manchester City.
The player featured this week is midfielder Mark Helm who has had a good first season at Burnley having signed from Manchester United last summer.
The League Tables and our Fixtures and Results can be found within U23/U18 Stats on the top menu.
All last week’s results and this week’s fixtures are below along with, the league’s leading goalscorers, our goalscorers and the current league tables.
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS
Division 1
Friday 22nd April
Leeds 1 Manchester City 3
Manchester United 1 Arsenal 1
Monday 25th April
Blackburn 2 Crystal Palace 1
Brighton 1 Chelsea 2
Derby 0 Tottenham 1
Everton 3 West Ham 4
Leicester 0 Liverpool 4
Division 2
Friday 22nd April
Nottingham Forest 1 Middlesbrough 1
Stoke 0 Burnley 0
Monday 25th April
Burnley 2 Aston Villa 1
Newcastle 2 Southampton 4
Reading 3 Fulham 1
Sunderland 2 Birmingham 1
West Brom 3 Norwich 2
Wolves 2 Stoke 2
THIS WEEK’S FIXTURES
Division 1
Friday 29th April
Arsenal v Leeds
Manchester City v Everton
Sunday 1st May
Blackburn v Chelsea
Liverpool v Manchester United
Monday 2nd May
Crystal Palace v Leicester
Tottenham v Brighton
West Ham v Derby
Division 2
Friday 29th April
Birmingham v Nottingham Forest
Fulham v Burnley
Norwich v Wolves
Stoke v West Brom
Sunday 1st May
Middlesbrough v Reading
Southampton v Sunderland
Monday 2nd May
Aston Villa v Newcastle
LEADING GOALSCORERS
Division 1
18: James Mcatee (Manchester City)
15: Jesurun Rak-Sakyi (Crystal Palace)
14: Folarin Balogun (Arsenal)
13: Armstrong Oko-Flex (West Ham)
12: Dilan Markanday (Tottenham)
10: Sonny Perkins (West Ham)
9: Alfie Devine (Tottenham), Tawanda Maswanhise (Leicester), Jack Vale (Blackburn)
Division 2
15: Abu Kamara (Norwich)
13: Thomas Dickson-Peters (Norwich)
12: Kazeem Olaigbe (Southampton), Will Swan (Nottingham Forest)
11: Dylan Stephenson (Newcastle)
10: Will Harris (Sunderland)
9: Chem Campbell (Wolves), Flynn Clarke (Norwich), Luke Harris (Fulham), Sonny Hilton (Fulham), Douglas James-Taylor (Stoke), Julian Larsson (Nottingham Forest), Jon Rowe (Norwich)
BURNLEY’S GOALSCORERS (INCLUDING CUPS)
11: Dara Costelloe
10: Michael Mellon
8: Max Thompson
7: Joe McGlynn
5: Ne-Jai Tucker, Ben Woods
4: Sam Unwin
2: Jacob Bedeau, Owen Dodgson, Anthony Glennon
1: Finlay Armstrong, Ashley Barnes, Rob Harker, Richard Nartey, Lewis Richardson, Dan Sassi, Bobby Thomas
2: own goals
LEAGUE TABLES
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Manchester City | 25 | 15 | 6 | 4 | 58 | 32 | 51 |
| West Ham | 25 | 14 | 3 | 8 | 54 | 39 | 45 |
| Arsenal | 25 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 55 | 47 | 40 |
| Manchester United | 25 | 11 | 6 | 8 | 45 | 40 | 39 |
| Liverpool | 25 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 44 | 36 | 37 |
| Leicester | 25 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 36 | 50 | 37 |
| Tottenham | 24 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 48 | 43 | 36 |
| Crystal Palace | 24 | 10 | 3 | 11 | 48 | 47 | 33 |
| Brighton | 25 | 9 | 6 | 10 | 41 | 41 | 33 |
| Blackburn | 25 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 46 | 53 | 32 |
| Everton | 25 | 8 | 5 | 12 | 33 | 47 | 29 |
| Leeds | 25 | 7 | 5 | 13 | 43 | 48 | 26 |
| Chelsea | 24 | 6 | 7 | 11 | 34 | 42 | 25 |
| Derby | 24 | 4 | 3 | 17 | 30 | 50 | 15 |
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Fulham | 25 | 19 | 2 | 4 | 59 | 24 | 59 |
| Wolves | 25 | 13 | 5 | 7 | 44 | 37 | 44 |
| Stoke | 25 | 11 | 7 | 7 | 32 | 35 | 40 |
| Nottingham Forest | 25 | 11 | 6 | 8 | 49 | 31 | 39 |
| Norwich | 25 | 12 | 3 | 10 | 64 | 50 | 39 |
| Burnley | 25 | 11 | 6 | 8 | 43 | 34 | 39 |
| Southampton | 25 | 11 | 3 | 11 | 44 | 42 | 36 |
| Newcastle | 25 | 11 | 2 | 12 | 49 | 55 | 35 |
| West Brom | 25 | 10 | 5 | 10 | 43 | 52 | 35 |
| Aston Villa | 25 | 9 | 5 | 11 | 52 | 49 | 32 |
| Birmingham | 25 | 7 | 5 | 13 | 34 | 48 | 26 |
| Sunderland | 25 | 7 | 3 | 15 | 35 | 48 | 24 |
| Middlesbrough | 25 | 7 | 2 | 16 | 29 | 49 | 23 |
| Reading | 25 | 5 | 8 | 12 | 31 | 54 | 23 |
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