Youths move up one place to finish in top half
The under-18s completed their U18 Premier League fixtures last Saturday, coming from behind to beat Derby County 2-1 with two goals from striker Joe Westley.
It left us in eighth place in the North Group table, behind Wolves on goal difference with the Black Country club still having one game to play. That game, astonishingly, saw Burnley move up a place.
In an almost Northampton Town/Bristol Rovers League Two scenario, Wolves could afford to lose by four goals at home against fourth from bottom Sunderland played earlier this week. They went in front but by the time they’d scored their second goal, Sunderland had responded with four of their own and then went on to score three more, beat Wolves 7-2 who then fell behind us on goal difference.
Our season has ended with 36 points from 26 games; that’s eight points more than last season from two more games played in a league featuring some big clubs and a league that for long periods looked like it was going to be a two horse race between Manchester City and Blackburn but as City went from strength to strength, Blackburn faltered. They won none of their last seven games and only two of their last fourteen to end the season fifth with only two points more than us.
City were ten points clear of second place Liverpool in the end with Manchester United and Nottingham Forest a further ten points behind. Although we were twice beaten heavily by Liverpool, we lost by one goal on the two occasions we played City while we took four points from Manchester United and helped Blackburn’s crash with a well deserved draw against them at home and then a win at Brockhall.
Third place will be determined by the one remaining game with United at home against Forest tomorrow and in the south, there is still one game to be played to between third and fourth; that is between Crystal Palace and Fulham. Whatever the result, unless it’s a massive defeat for Fulham, it won’t change the league which has been won by Southampton.
The Saints have actually finished with 62 points, one more than City won in the north, and the two will now meet to decide the league’s winners for 2021/22 season. That game will be played next Thursday with Southampton having home advantage. It will be played at St. Mary’s Stadium.
The player featured this week is Sean Etaluku. He was one of two players to score six goals this season but is expected to be one of the players leaving the club when the academy retained list is announced.
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 the next fixtures are below along with our goalscorers and the current league tables.
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS
North
Saturday 7th May
Derby 1 Burnley 2
Leeds 4 Middlesbrough 1
Newcastle 0 Liverpool 5
Sunderland 0 Manchester City 6
Wolves 4 Stoke 2
Tuesday 10th May
Wolves 2 Sunderland 7
South
Saturday 20th November
Birmingham 2 Aston Villa 2
Crystal Palace 2 Brighton 1
Fulham 1 Leicester 2
Southampton 5 Chelsea 2
Tottenham 0 Arsenal 5
West Brom 4 Reading 0
West Ham 4 Norwich 0
FINAL FIXTURES
North
Saturday 14th May
Manchester United v Nottingham Forest
South
Saturday 14th May
Crystal Palace v Fulham
Play-Off Final
Thursday 19th May
Southampton v Manchester City
BURNLEY’S GOALSCORERS (including cups)
9: Michael Mellon
6: Tremaine Eastmond, Sean Etaluku
5: Joe Bauress
4: Joe Smyth-Ferguson
3: Will Couch, Will Hugill, Joe Westley
2: Dan Sassi, George Walters
1: Ruairi Behan, Trevon Bryan, Jacson Coppack, Nathan James, Kian Le Fondre, Dane McCullough, Kade Ratchford, Ryan Tioffo, Lucas Wane
1: Trialist
1: own goal
LEAGUE TABLES
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Manchester City | 26 | 19 | 4 | 3 | 87 | 26 | 61 |
| Liverpool | 26 | 16 | 3 | 7 | 85 | 45 | 51 |
| Manchester United | 25 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 57 | 46 | 41 |
| Nottm Forest | 25 | 12 | 5 | 8 | 35 | 31 | 41 |
| Blackburn | 26 | 11 | 5 | 10 | 56 | 38 | 38 |
| Middlesbrough | 26 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 38 | 45 | 38 |
| Burnley | 26 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 40 | 44 | 36 |
| Wolves | 26 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 41 | 46 | 36 |
| Leeds | 26 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 66 | 70 | 34 |
| Everton | 26 | 8 | 7 | 11 | 28 | 37 | 31 |
| Sunderland | 26 | 8 | 5 | 13 | 39 | 48 | 29 |
| Derby | 26 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 31 | 62 | 27 |
| Stoke | 26 | 6 | 4 | 16 | 33 | 56 | 22 |
| Newcastle | 26 | 3 | 8 | 15 | 27 | 69 | 17 |
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Southampton | 26 | 20 | 2 | 4 | 80 | 34 | 62 |
| West Ham | 26 | 18 | 4 | 4 | 70 | 25 | 58 |
| Crystal Palace | 25 | 15 | 5 | 5 | 60 | 31 | 50 |
| Fulham | 25 | 14 | 4 | 7 | 53 | 29 | 46 |
| Chelsea | 26 | 14 | 4 | 8 | 66 | 49 | 46 |
| Arsenal | 26 | 14 | 6 | 6 | 58 | 43 | 48 |
| Leicester | 26 | 14 | 5 | 7 | 47 | 31 | 47 |
| Brighton | 26 | 10 | 3 | 13 | 57 | 58 | 33 |
| Tottenham | 26 | 10 | 1 | 15 | 52 | 66 | 31 |
| West Brom | 26 | 9 | 2 | 15 | 42 | 63 | 29 |
| Reading | 26 | 7 | 3 | 16 | 36 | 62 | 24 |
| Aston Villa | 26 | 5 | 5 | 16 | 44 | 69 | 20 |
| Birmingham | 26 | 3 | 5 | 18 | 29 | 76 | 14 |
| Norwich | 26 | 3 | 1 | 22 | 20 | 78 | 10 |
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