Preview | U21s travel north to face Leeds United in PL2

Leeds United U21s v West Ham United U21s
Premier League 2, LNER Stadium, Monday 27 January 2025, 7pm GMT

West Ham United U21s return to Premier League 2 action on Monday, as they travel north to face Leeds United at the LNER Stadium, home of York City.

The two sides are separated by just three points as they fight to secure a spot in the last-16 play-offs.

Tickets...

Tickets for Monday evening’s game are available on the Leeds United website, priced as follows:

How To Follow...

West Ham United's development fixture against Leeds United will not be live streamed. However, fans can stay up to date with the action through a live blog on the Club’s website and app, while a match report and reaction will follow shortly after the full-time whistle. Highlights will be available on Tuesday.

Premier League 2 Explained…

To minimise the impact of relegation on future groups of U21 players, the Premier League introduced a new format to its development phase competition in 2023/24.

Replacing the two-division system, the 26 Category One academies now compete in a single tier with 20 regular season fixtures before the top 16 seeded teams advance to single-elimination play-offs.

Regular season fixtures are determined by a draw made according to clubs’ performances over the last three seasons. Each team plays 20 different opponents before the play-offs in May, where they will be drawn against each other based on league positions, with the higher seeded team playing at home. The top 12 are also rewarded with a place in the following season’s Premier League International Cup competition.

Opposition...  

Awarded Category One status in 2020, Leeds United’s U21s missed the Premier League 2 play-offs by seven points last season. This term however, they are firmly in contention for post-season qualification, currently occupying the final spot of the Premier League 2 play-offs.

Like the Hammers, Leeds missed out on qualification to the quarter-finals of the National League Cup in their final group game by a single point, meaning their focus now shifts entirely to the Premier League 2 campaign. A win for the young Whites would see them leapfrog West Ham in the standings.

The two sides last met last season at Elland Road in a 5-2 win for the Irons, with Callum Marshall, currently on loan at Huddersfield Town, scoring a hat-trick.

Ones To Watch…

In the absence of Lewis Orford, fellow local Hammer Ryan Battrum has been donning the development side armband. A mainstay in the U18s side that won the FA Youth Cup and Premier League South double in 2023, Battrum is a tireless right-sided midfielder who can play as a full-back as well as a winger, where he has been deployed in recent games. Having come extremely close to getting on the scoresheet in the last two National League Cup games, the 19-year-old will be eager to make his mark on Monday evening.

Preston Fearon has nine assists in eleven games for the U18s. His playmaking and midfield play have seen him transition over to the U21s set-up at Rush Green, making his Premier League 2 debut in the young Hammers’ last league fixture against Sunderland. Arguably the best player on the pitch for the U21s in their last game at Dagenham & Redbridge in the National League Cup, the second-year scholar will be looking to be equally as influential with his vision and passing in Monday night’s game against Leeds United.

After guiding Leeds United to the FA Youth Cup final last season with goals in the quarter-final and semi-final, Rhys Chadwick signed his first professional contract in the summer. The 17-year-old attacking midfielder has picked up where he left off this season with five goals and three assists in Premier League 2. The second-year scholar has also been in good form in other competitions, registering eleven goal contributions in the Premier League Cup and National League Cup.

Also in midfield, Joe Snowdon will be looking to continue his fine form for Leeds’ development side. Having missed almost all of pre-season and the opening three months of the campaign due to injury, the 20-year-old has really hit the ground running with two goals and two assists in his first five matches back. 

How Things Stand In Premier League 2...

Despite a victory on their return after a one-and-a-half month pause from league action, West Ham U21s are still just three points clear of the play-off cut-off point, albeit with at least a game in hand on all the teams around them.

A win for Leeds would see the home side leapfrog the Hammers in the table, while a win for West Ham would put some considerable daylight between them and 17th place.

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