Sunderland U21s v West Ham United U21s
Premier League 2 playoff quarter-finals, Eppleton Colliery Football Ground, Monday 13 May 2024, 7pm BST
West Ham United U21s continue their Premier League 2 playoff campaign away to Sunderland on Monday evening.
The young Hammers, who qualified for the knockouts after a second-place finish in the standings, beat Blackburn Rovers 4-1 last time out to reach the last eight.
West Ham beat Sunderland 2-0 on home soil in August last year, and must repeat the feat on their travels should they progress to the semi-finals.
Read on for our full preview below...
How To Follow...
A live blog will be available on the Club’s website and app, while a match report and reaction will follow shortly after the full-time whistle.
Premier League 2 Explained...
The competition has a new format this season, with one division made up of 26 clubs with Category One Academies. Each team played 20 regular season fixtures, after which the top 16 teams qualified for a single elimination playoff.
Having finished second in the table, West Ham have secured qualification for next season’s Premier League International Cup.
The young Hammers also qualified as the second-highest-seeded team for the resulting knockout competition, which they kickstarted with a last-16 win over Blackburn Rovers.
Coach’s View…
U21 assistant coach Gerard Prenderville is well aware of the test to come when West Ham travel to Sunderland on Monday evening.
While the U21s won the previous meeting between the two sides, Prenderville is adamant the young Irons can take nothing for granted.
Sunderland, he says, will be a ‘hard one.’
“It is a bit of a late season but it’s nice to have it continue into May and have this extra competition to go again in,” Prenderville explained.
“I think Sunderland will be a hard one, but what the boys want with this competition is to go and win it.
“The group has a real trust - and that means they can be honest with each other, about what is needed and expected. There is real hard work there, and the focus switched to Sunderland after the Blackburn game."
Opposition…
The Hammers will take some confidence from a 2-0 win - thanks to goals from Luizão and Callum Marshall - over Sunderland in August, although the knockouts, with the challenge of playing away from home too, could prove an altogether different task to overcome.
Sunderland finished seventh in the table, winning ten of their 20 league games and losing just six, to reach the last 16 comfortably.
In their first bout of playoff action, the Black Cats beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-1 at Eppleton Colliery Welfare Ground to set up the tie with the Irons.
Story So Far…
The young Irons took 42 points from their 20 league games, and finished four points behind leaders Tottenham Hotspur, having lost just four PL2 matches this season.
The 16-team playoffs will ultimately decide the winners of the development league, with the Hammers qualifying in second place.
Steve Potts' side defeated 15th-placed Blackburn Rovers in the last 16 and would face either Reading or Nottingham Forest in the semi-finals should they beat Sunderland on Monday evening.
