Under-23s will need a win at Leeds to have play-off chance
Our under-23s go into the final game of the season next Monday at Leeds knowing that only a win against the runaway champions of Premier League 2 Division 2 will give us a chance of securing a place in the end of season play-offs.
As it stands, Stoke are comfortably into the play-offs but the other three places are up for grabs. Wolves have 35 points, then come Middlesbrough and us on 34, Sunderland on 33 and Crystal Palace on 30. All of those teams have two games to play apart from ourselves who have only the one remaining game.
We’ve dropped two places in the last week. Wolves went a point clear yesterday with a 3-0 win against Norwich, this coming after Middlesbrough had gone ahead of us on goal difference with a 4-1 win against Aston Villa last Friday.
Sunderland are the ones to watch. One point behind us, they are on a terrific run of form having been marooned at the bottom for much of the season. They’ve won five and lost just one of their last eight games and now sit one point behind us although their final two games are both against Stoke.
Crystal Palace have 30 points. I wouldn’t rule them out either given that both of their remaining games are against Middlesbrough. Two tough games but if they were to win them both it could push Middlesbrough right out of the reckoning. Reading, who have to play third place Wolves twice, we can rule out as we can the five teams below them.
It’s going to be an interesting conclusion but anything other than a win against Leeds, who did only secure a draw yesterday against Fulham, I expect would end our chances.
Leeds won the league during the previous week and this week Manchester City have lifted the Division 1 title. They did so last Friday with a 1-0 win at West Ham with second place Blackburn beaten 2-0 at home to Everton, a result that has now seen them drop to third with Spurs moving into second place having beaten Liverpool.
At the bottom end of the table, Southampton are all but down with Leicester or West Ham likely to be joining them in Division 2 next season.
The player featured this week is Max Thompson. Despite having played in a wide position on many occasions this season he is our leading scorer with ten league goals.
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 23rd April
Blackburn 0 Derby 2
Manchester United 4 Chelsea 2
Tottenham 4 Liverpool 1
West Ham 0 Manchester City 1
Saturday 24th April
Everton 1 Brighton 1
Monday 26th April
Leicester 1 Arsenal 1
Division 2
Friday 23rd April
Middlesbrough 4 Aston Villa 1
West Brom 0 Stoke 1
Monday 26th April
Fulham 1 Leeds 1
Newcastle 2 Crystal Palace 0
Sunderland 2 Reading 1
Wolves 3 Norwich 0
THIS WEEK’S FIXTURES
Division 1
Friday 30th April
Chelsea v Blackburn
Manchester City v Tottenham
Saturday 1st May
Arsenal v West Ham
Sunday 2nd May
Liverpool v Leicester
Southampton v Everton
Monday 3rd May
Derby v Manchester United
Division 2
Friday 30th April
Norwich v West Brom
Reading v Wolves
Sunday 2nd May
Aston Villa v Newcastle
Monday 3rd May
Crystal Palace v Middlesbrough
Leeds v Burnley
Stoke v Sunderland
LEADING GOALSCORERS
Division 1
20: Liam Delap (Manchester City)
12: Connor McBride (Blackburn)
11: Cole Palmer (Manchester City)
10: Nathan Broadhead (Everton), Joe Hugill (Manchester United), Felix Nmecha (Manchester City)
9: Folarin Balogun (Arsenal), Kion Etete (Tottenham), Jacob Wakeling (Leicester)
Division 2
12: Louie Barry (Aston Villa), Josh Hawkes (Sunderland)
11: Fabio Carvalho (Fulham), Joe Gelhardt (Leeds)
10: Sam Greenwood (Leeds), Aaron Ramsey (Aston Villa), Max Thompson (Burnley), Jean-Pierre Tiehi (Fulham)
9: Ethan Varian (Stoke)
8: Joel Mumbongo (Burnley)
BURNLEY’S GOALSCORERS
10: Max Thompson
8: Joel Mumbongo
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 | 22 | 15 | 5 | 2 | 69 | 28 | 50 |
| Tottenham | 22 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 43 | 34 | 38 |
| Blackburn | 22 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 46 | 36 | 37 |
| Chelsea | 22 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 45 | 34 | 36 |
| Derby | 22 | 10 | 3 | 9 | 38 | 42 | 33 |
| Manchester United | 22 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 51 | 54 | 31 |
| Liverpool | 22 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 44 | 48 | 31 |
| Everton | 22 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 35 | 28 | 30 |
| Brighton | 24 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 36 | 42 | 30 |
| Arsenal | 22 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 34 | 39 | 25 |
| Leicester | 22 | 6 | 3 | 13 | 39 | 51 | 21 |
| West Ham | 22 | 5 | 5 | 12 | 28 | 45 | 20 |
| Southampton | 22 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 29 | 56 | 16 |
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Leeds | 23 | 17 | 2 | 4 | 57 | 27 | 53 |
| Stoke | 22 | 14 | 1 | 7 | 40 | 29 | 43 |
| Wolves | 22 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 38 | 29 | 35 |
| Middlesbrough | 22 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 42 | 31 | 34 |
| Burnley | 23 | 10 | 4 | 9 | 36 | 36 | 34 |
| Sunderland | 22 | 10 | 3 | 9 | 41 | 40 | 33 |
| Crystal Palace | 22 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 41 | 39 | 30 |
| Reading | 22 | 9 | 1 | 12 | 34 | 52 | 28 |
| Aston Villa | 22 | 8 | 3 | 11 | 43 | 46 | 27 |
| Fulham | 23 | 8 | 3 | 12 | 37 | 46 | 27 |
| Norwich | 22 | 7 | 3 | 12 | 28 | 35 | 24 |
| Newcastle | 22 | 7 | 3 | 12 | 29 | 44 | 24 |
| West Brom | 21 | 6 | 3 | 12 | 32 | 44 | 21 |
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