2017–18 Professional U23 Development League

U23 Professional Development League
Season	2017–18
Champions	Bolton Wanderers U23s
Matches played	313; (310 RS, 3 PO)
Goals scored	1,020 (3.26 per match); (1012 RS, 8 PO)
Top goalscorer	Connor Hall (22 Goals)
	← 2016–17 2018–19 →

Premier League 2
Season	2017–18
Champions	Arsenal U23s; Division 2; Blackburn Rovers U23s
Promoted	Blackburn Rovers U23s; Brighton & Hove Albion U23s
Relegated	Sunderland U23s; Manchester United U23s
Matches played	267; (264 RS, 3 PO)
Goals scored	951 (3.56 per match); (939 RS, 12 PO)
Top goalscorer	Lukas Nmecha (15 goals)
	← 2016–17 2018–19 →

The 2017–18 Professional U23 Development League was the sixth season of the Professional Development League system.

Premier League 2

Division 1

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Arsenal U23s (C)	22	13	3	6	48	32	+16	42
2	Liverpool U23s	22	13	1	8	43	27	+16	40
3	Leicester City U23s	22	11	6	5	36	20	+16	39
4	Swansea City U23s	22	11	4	7	40	31	+9	37
5	West Ham United U23s	22	9	4	9	30	32	−2	31
6	Manchester City U23s	22	8	6	8	41	31	+10	30
7	Everton U23s	22	9	3	10	32	36	−4	30
8	Chelsea U23s	22	8	5	9	34	35	−1	29
9	Tottenham Hotspur U23s	22	7	5	10	38	48	−10	26
10	Derby County U23s	22	7	3	12	32	44	−12	24
11	Sunderland U23s (R)	22	6	4	12	19	39	−20	22
12	Manchester United U23s (R)	22	4	8	10	22	40	−18	20

Updated to match(es) played on 13 May 2018. Source: ^[1]
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away	ARS	CHE	DER	EVE	LEI	LIV	MNC	MNU	SUN	SWA	TOT	WHU
Arsenal U23s		3–1	3–3	4–0	1–0	1–2	4–3	4–0	2–0	1–0	1–3	3–0
Chelsea U23s	2–2		2–0	0–3	1–0	1–3	3–2	2–2	2–2	1–3	1–2	0–0
Derby County U23s	2–3	0–3		0–1	0–2	2–0	0–4	1–1	2–0	3–3	1–0	1–0
Everton U23s	4–2	2–1	1–3		0–1	1–3	3–4	0–0	0–1	2–0	4–1	0–4
Leicester City U23s	3–1	2–0	3–1	2–1		4–0	0–0	0–1	0–0	2–0	6–1	3–1
Liverpool U23s	1–1	5–1	1–0	4–0	1–2		1–0	1–2	3–0	1–3	4–2	0–1
Manchester City U23s	0–1	0–0	4–1	0–3	2–2	3–2		1–1	2–2	0–1	4–2	0–1
Manchester United U23s	0–2	0–4	1–2	2–2	1–1	1–3	1–1		4–0	1–1	1–3	0–3
Sunderland U23s	1–3	0–5	2–1	2–1	4–1	1–4	0–2	0–1		0–2	2–1	1–2
Swansea City U23s	3–1	2–0	5–2	1–2	3–1	0–2	1–3	2–0	1–0		2–2	3–0
Tottenham Hotspur U23s	3–2	2–3	4–2	1–2	1–1	1–0	0–5	3–0	0–0	2–2		2–3
West Ham United U23s	1–3	0–1	1–5	0–0	0–0	0–2	2–1	4–2	0–1	5–2	2–2

Source: Premier League 2 Division 1 results
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Division 2

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or qualification
1	Blackburn Rovers U23s (P)	22	15	4	3	47	20	+27	49	Promotion to Division 1
2	Aston Villa U23s	22	14	1	7	51	29	+22	43	Qualification for Play-offs
3	Brighton & Hove Albion U23s (P)	22	11	7	4	46	25	+21	40
4	Middlesbrough U23s	22	11	4	7	41	36	+5	37
5	Reading U23s	22	10	4	8	38	44	−6	34
6	Southampton U23s	22	10	3	9	41	37	+4	33
7	Fulham U23s	22	9	3	10	38	37	+1	30
8	Norwich City U23s	22	8	6	8	32	33	−1	30
9	Wolverhampton Wanderers U23s	22	8	4	10	30	41	−11	28
10	Newcastle United U23s	22	6	3	13	29	45	−16	21
11	Stoke City U23s	22	6	2	14	31	46	−15	20
12	West Bromwich Albion U23s	22	2	3	17	21	52	−31	9

Updated to match(es) played on 12 May 2018. Source: ^[2]
(P) Promoted

Results

Home \ Away	AST	BLB	B&H	FUL	MID	NEW	NOR	REA	SOT	STO	WBA	WOL
Aston Villa U23s		0–3	1–0	1–3	4–0	6–0	0–1	3–1	4–0	1–2	3–1	6–1
Blackburn Rovers U23s	0–1		0–2	4–0	1–3	2–0	2–1	2–0	1–0	2–0	2–2	5–1
Brighton & Hove Albion U23s	3–0	2–2		4–2	2–2	0–0	1–1	1–2	1–1	5–1	5–1	1–1
Fulham U23s	2–3	0–1	1–1		1–2	3–0	2–0	2–2	0–2	2–1	3–0	0–3
Middlesbrough U23s	4–1	3–3	0–3	0–2		1–0	4–0	3–4	3–3	2–1	2–1	3–1
Newcastle United U23s	2–0	0–2	0–2	1–1	0–1		2–2	4–1	1–5	0–2	2–0	0–1
Norwich City U23s	1–2	1–1	1–2	0–3	1–0	4–3		2–0	3–0	2–0	1–1	2–1
Reading U23s	3–2	3–5	2–1	2–1	2–3	1–4	2–2		1–1	3–1	2–0	0–0
Southampton U23s	1–4	0–1	0–1	3–4	2–1	6–2	2–1	4–0		3–0	3–2	2–4
Stoke City U23s	1–3	0–1	2–3	4–1	3–2	3–4	1–3	2–3	0–2		4–2	1–0
West Bromwich Albion U23s	1–4	1–4	5–1	2–1	0–1	0–4	0–2	0–2	0–1	1–1		1–2
Wolverhampton Wanderers U23s	0–2	0–3	0–5	1–4	1–1	2–0	4–2	1–2	3–0	1–1	2–0

Source: Premier League 2 Division 2 results
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Play-offs

Semifinals			Final

2	Aston Villa U23s	4

5	Reading U23s	3
			2	Aston Villa U23s	0

			3	Brighton & Hove Albion U23s	2
3	Brighton & Hove Albion U23s	3

4	Middlesbrough U23s	0

Semifinals

27 April 2018

Brighton & Hove Albion U23s	3–0	Middlesbrough U23s
Gyökeres 71', 80' Bjørdal 78'	Report

AMEX Stadium, Falmer

Attendance: 640

Referee: David Rock

1 May 2018

Aston Villa U23s	4–3	Reading U23s
Hepburn-Murphy 62', 90+4' Suliman 64' Blackett-Taylor 79'	Report	Osho 61' McIntyre 75' Howe 81'

Villa Park, Birmingham

Attendance: 1,044

Referee: Joseph Johnson

Final

12 May 2018

7:00

Aston Villa U23s	0–2	Brighton & Hove Albion U23s
	Report	Bjørdal 23' Connolly 69'

Villa Park, Birmingham

Attendance: 1,869

Referee: Conor Farrell

Professional Development League

The Professional Development League is the sixth campaign of post-EPPP Under-23 football's second tier, designed for those academies with Category 2 status. A total of 21 teams are split regionally into north and south divisions, with each team facing opponents in their own region twice both home and away and opponents in the other region once for a total of 30 games each in the North Division, and 29 games in the South division.

At the end of the season, the teams finishing in the top two positions of both divisions will meet in the knockout stage to determine the overall league champion. Burnley U23s were officially granted Category 2 status in the summer of 2017 and became the league's 21st team.

Tables

North Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Bolton Wanderers U23s	30	16	3	11	50	44	+6	51	Qualification for Knock-out stage
2	Nottingham Forest U23s	30	13	11	6	65	50	+15	50	Qualification for Knock-out stage
3	Sheffield Wednesday U23s	30	14	8	8	48	39	+9	50
4	Sheffield United U23s	30	14	3	13	50	43	+7	45
5	Hull City U23s	30	14	3	13	47	57	−10	45
6	Leeds United U23s	30	13	5	12	50	46	+4	44
7	Huddersfield Town U23s	30	12	5	13	49	53	−4	41
8	Birmingham City U23s	30	10	8	12	46	42	+4	38
9	Crewe Alexandra U23s	30	10	5	15	38	53	−15	35
10	Burnley U23s	30	10	4	16	33	54	−21	34
11	Barnsley U23s	30	9	6	15	49	55	−6	33

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

South Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Crystal Palace U23s	29	19	3	7	67	31	+36	60	Qualification for Knock-out stage
2	Charlton Athletic U23s	29	14	6	9	51	39	+12	48	Qualification for Knock-out stage
3	Ipswich Town U23s	29	13	5	11	61	49	+12	44
4	Watford U23s	29	11	8	10	56	44	+12	41
5	Coventry City U23s	29	11	6	12	54	60	−6	39
6	Queens Park Rangers U23s	29	11	5	13	54	59	−5	38
7	Colchester United U23s	29	10	7	12	39	48	−9	37
8	Millwall U23s	29	9	10	10	28	38	−10	37
9	Cardiff City U23s	29	10	5	14	38	51	−13	35
10	Bristol City U23s	29	5	8	16	39	57	−18	23

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Knock-out stage

Semi-finals

1 May 2018

19:00

Bolton Wanderers U23s	3–1	Charlton Athletic U23s
King 15' Politic 41' Edwards 76'	Report	Hackett-Fairchild 65'

Macron Stadium, Horwich

Attendance: 329

1 May 2018

19:00

Crystal Palace U23s	0–1 (a.e.t.)	Nottingham Forest U23s
		Gomis 93'

Selhurst Park, Selhurst

Final

4 May 2018

19:00

Nottingham Forest U23s	1–2	Bolton Wanderers U23s
Preston 77'	Report	Duke-McKenna 6' Politic 44'

City Ground, West Bridgford

Attendance: 1,200

Referee: Scott Simpson

References

^ "PREMIER LEAGUE 2 DIVISION ONE". Soccerway. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
^ "PREMIER LEAGUE 2 DIVISION TWO". Soccerway. Retrieved 1 August 2017.

[1] "PREMIER LEAGUE 2 DIVISION ONE". Soccerway. Retrieved 1 August 2017.

[2] "PREMIER LEAGUE 2 DIVISION TWO". Soccerway. Retrieved 1 August 2017.

[1]

[2]

v t e Professional Development League
U21/U23	2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
U18	2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24

Premier League 2

Division 1

Table

Results

Division 2

Table

Results

Play-offs

Semifinals

Final

Professional Development League

Tables

North Division

South Division

Knock-out stage

See also

References