West Ham United take on Everton in what promises to be a massive clash down the wrong end of the U21 league table. The bottom two sides will go toe to toe at Rush Green and anything but three points for the Hammers will seal their relegation to the second tier of development football.
Nick Haycock’s men will have taken heart from their previous outing, where they toppled Patrick Vieira’s Manchester City at the Boleyn Ground in a 2-1 win. He will be heading into this one knowing that they have to win their final three games of the season if they are to remain in the top division for another campaign.
Jordan Brown and Djair Parfitt-Williams may be the key for the Irons, as they look to play with good attacking intent once more. They will need to be in good form as West Ham are the lowest scorers in the league, with just seventeen goals in nineteen games so far.
Everton meanwhile come off the back of an away defeat to Sunderland, and may be a little fatigued having to travel from the North East to the East End within a week, especially with such a young crop of players.
Their second from bottom league position may be perhaps down to many of the academy players actually moving on to the first team, such as Tyias Browning and Luke Garbutt. They’ll be striding for the win as well as they currently lie one point adrift of safety, sitting below Fulham.
We will perhaps be at a disadvantage as many of our squad have been training with the first team in recent weeks. Reece Burke for instance was a regular in the U21 side for the first half of the campaign, but has now moved on to bigger and better things under Sam Allardyce. Let’s hope for a second consecutive win of the season!
