Under-23s retain league and cup hopes
The last week’s results have seen the under-23s move back into second place in the Professional Development League whilst also leaving us one win away from qualifying for the knock out stages of the Premier League Cup.
Looking firstly at the league, Monday’s win against Bolton at the County Ground in Leyland moved us back above Birmingham. We have a two point lead over them although they do have a game in hand. It has still left us four points behind leaders Leeds, but they were beaten on the following day by Sheffield Wednesday, thus losing their game in hand.
Monday’s was a key victory. Defeat would have seen Bolton move ahead of us and could have seen Crewe climb above us, but they were beaten, somewhat surprisingly, by Barnsley. It’s going to be very close in this league for the remainder of the season but we still have a very good chance of finishing in the top two and qualifying for the end of season play-offs.
As I reported after the Bolton win, it has taken us to 36 points, more than we won in the entire 2017/18 season and we’ve also reached 50 goals for the season, the first team in the northern group to get there with Leeds the second highest scorers with 41. However, only bottom of the league Hull, who we play tomorrow, have conceded more goals than us.
Monday’s win followed the 0-0 home draw against Liverpool last Friday in the Premier League Cup. I suppose all eyes were on Bournemouth last Monday. Had they beaten West Brom it would have left us in second place in our group and needing a draw against West Brom a week on Monday to go through. As it happened, that game ended all square at 1-1 on Monday night which leaves West Brom above us on goal difference and us needing to beat them at Curzon Ashton to go through.
Sunderland, Stoke, Everton, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Derby, Reading and Newcastle are already through but so tight is our group, we could still finish top or bottom depending on the final results.
If we do beat West Brom and Liverpool overcome Bournemouth, it will mean we’ve won the group, but the reverse of those results would see Liverpool move ahead of us and us finish in fourth place. However, no matter what the results, Bournemouth have already qualified.
The player photographed this week is Anthony Glennon, who captained the side in the win against Bolton. He continues to impress both in the centre of defence and at left-back.
The League Tables and the Premier League Cup Group Tables are updated as results are confirmed and can be found with our Fixtures and Results within U23/U18 Stats on the top menu.
Last week’s results, this week’s fixtures, the league’s leading goalscorers, our goalscorers and the current league and cup tables are all below.
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE
Thursday 7th February
Bristol City 2 Millwall 1
Monday 11th February
Bolton 2 Burnley 4
Crewe 0 Barnsley 1
Nottingham Forest 1 Sheffield United 0
Cardiff 2 Coventry 3
Crystal Palace 2 QPR 0
Tuesday 12th February
Sheffield Wednesday 1 Leeds 0
PREMIER LEAGUE CUP
Thursday 7th February
Peterborough 0 Charlton 3
Friday 8th February
Birmingham 2 Reading 2
Burnley 0 Liverpool 0
Everton 1 Blackburn 1
Newcastle 3 Southampton 0
Sheffield United 2 Doncaster 1
Monday 11th February
Aston Villa 1 Derby 2
Colchester 0 Fulham 5
Norwich 0 Exeter 3
Plymouth 2 Bristol City 2
Stoke 4 Charlton 1
Sunderland 6 Peterborough 2
West Brom 1 Bournemouth 1
Tuesday 12th February
Oxford 3 Hull 0
THIS WEEK’S FIXTURES
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE
Friday 15th February
Barnsley v Nottingham Forest
Hull v Burnley
Coventry v Ipswich
Watford v Charlton
Saturday 16th February
Birmingham v Crewe
Monday 18th February
Leeds v Bolton
Colchester v Crystal Palace
Millwall v Cardiff
QPR v Bristol City
Tuesday 19th February
Sheffield United v Sheffield Wednesday
PREMIER LEAGUE CUP
Friday 15th February
Leeds v Notts County
LEADING GOALSCORERS (LEAGUE)
13: Dan Agyei (Burnley)
11: Aramide Oteh (QPR)
10: Tinashe Chakwana (Burnley), Michael Folivi (Watford)
9: Kian Flanagan (Crystal Palace), Ben Folami (Ipswich), Keane Lewis-Potter (Hull), Kyle McFarlane (Birmingham)
8: Oli Finney (Crewe), Levi Lumeka (Crystal Palace), Luca Navarro (Bolton), Lewis Reilly (Crewe), Mason Saunders-Henry (Millwall)
BURNLEY’S GOALSCORERS (LEAGUE & CUPS)
16: Dan Agyei
13: Tinashe Chakwana
5: Dwight McNeil
4: Tunde Bayode, Marley Blair
3: Jordan Cropper, Rob Harker
2: Josh Benson, Ali Koiki, Bobby Thomas, own goals
1: Michael Fowler, Mark Howarth, Christian N’Guessan, Kai Smith, Matěj Vydra, Nahki Wells, Oliver Younger
CURRENT LEAGUE TABLES
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Leeds | 21 | 12 | 4 | 5 | 41 | 27 | 40 |
| Burnley | 21 | 11 | 3 | 7 | 50 | 38 | 36 |
| Birmingham City | 20 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 35 | 19 | 34 |
| Crewe Alexandra | 22 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 36 | 35 | 33 |
| Bolton Wanderers | 21 | 10 | 2 | 9 | 30 | 33 | 32 |
| Sheffield United | 21 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 31 | 33 | 29 |
| Barnsley | 20 | 8 | 3 | 9 | 22 | 36 | 27 |
| Nottingham Forest | 19 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 35 | 28 | 25 |
| Sheffield Wednesday | 19 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 22 | 35 | 25 |
| Hull City | 20 | 4 | 5 | 11 | 25 | 42 | 17 |
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Ipswich Town | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 53 | 25 | 39 |
| Crystal Palace | 21 | 10 | 5 | 6 | 42 | 35 | 35 |
| Coventry City | 21 | 9 | 4 | 8 | 38 | 35 | 31 |
| Bristol City | 20 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 31 | 31 | 29 |
| Queens Park Rangers | 21 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 49 | 44 | 28 |
| Millwall | 20 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 26 | 25 | 28 |
| Charlton Athletic | 20 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 26 | 32 | 21 |
| Watford | 18 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 25 | 32 | 19 |
| Cardiff City | 20 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 30 | 34 | 18 |
| Colchester United | 19 | 5 | 1 | 13 | 23 | 52 | 16 |
CURRENT PREMIER LEAGUE CUP GROUP TABLES
Group A
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Sunderland | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 10 | 12 |
| Stoke | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 7 | 10 |
| Charlton | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 4 |
| Peterborough | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 16 | 3 |
Group B
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Everton | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 4 | 11 |
| Sheffield United | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 9 |
| Blackburn | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 5 | 7 |
| Doncaster | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 15 | 1 |
Group C
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Bournemouth | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 8 | 8 |
| West Brom | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Burnley | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 12 | 6 |
| Liverpool | 5 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
Group D
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Nottingham Forest | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 12 |
| Leicester | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 5 |
| Exeter | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 5 |
| Norwich | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 2 |
Group E
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Wolves | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 8 |
| Swansea | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 7 |
| Oxford | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 7 |
| Hull | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 3 |
Group F
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Aston Villa | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 2 | 12 |
| Derby | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 3 | 10 |
| Plymouth | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 3 |
| Bristol City | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 17 | 2 |
Group G
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Reading | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 5 | 13 |
| Fulham | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 5 | 9 |
| Birmingham | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 8 | 7 |
| Colchester | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 22 | 0 |
Group H
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Newcastle | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 4 | 11 |
| Southampton | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 8 | 7 |
| Leeds | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 6 | 6 |
| Notts County | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 16 | 1 |
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