Season › 2024-25 › In The Wings

Everton Under-21s, 2024-25

[History of Everton Reserves]

Everton's Under-21s largely represent the end product of the once renowned Everton Academy at Finch Farm which is a Category A Elite Development entity under the current Premier League/FA rules and has produced a number of lower-league players who have proved unable to break into the Blues' first team. Since 2016, they play in the FA Premier League 2, which adopts a new format for the 2023-24 season.

The U21s would also normally competi in the Premier League Cup but that didn't happen  this season. They played in the Premier League International Cup, and were one of the Premier League Development sides that entered U21 teams into the Papa John's (ne EFL) Trophy against the senior sides from EFL's League One and League Two.

· Results & Fixtures	A record of Everton's Under-21 matches for the season
· League Table	Current standings in Premier League 2
· Match Details	Teamsheets and brief reports for each match
· Appearances	A table of Under-21 appearances for all senior players
· Friendlies	Results from Under-21 friendly matches

Everton Under-21s split their home matches between the newly renamed 'Big Help' Stadium at Haig Avenue in Southport and Walton Hall Park this season, with some games also being played at Finch Farm. 

Everton's games in the 2023-24 Liverpool Senior Cup  and Lancashire Senior Cup are contested by the Under-18s, along with the FA Youth Cup too.

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FIXTURES AND RESULTS, 2023-24

	Under-21 Competitive Games				All KOs are UK time
	Date	Opponent	Result		Scorers	Venue	Comp
	Mon 14 Aug	Team (A)					PL2: 1
	Tue 19 Sep	Team (A)					EFLT:H1

	U23 Pre-Season Friendlies				All KOs are UK time
	Date	Opponent	Result		Scorers	Venue	Notes
	Tue 19 Jul					Att:	F1
	Sat 22 Jul					Att:	F2
	Wed 26 Jul					Att:	F3

F denotes Friendly fixture
TF denotes Friendly tournament fixture
XI denotes Friendly fixture involving an Everton XI (not necessarily the first team)
PL2 denotes Premier League 2 fixtures
PLC denotes Premier League Cup fixtures
PLIC denotes Premier League International Cup fixtures
EFLT denotes EFL Trophy fixtures

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FA PREMIER LEAGUE 2, 2023-24

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Tottenham Hotspur
2	West Ham United
3	Fulham
4	Chelsea
5	Arsenal
6	Reading
7	Sunderland
8	Liverpool
9	Crystal Palace
10	Wolverhampton Wanderers
11	Middlesbrough
12	Manchester United
13	Brighton & Hove Albion
14	Nottingham Forest
15	Blackburn Rovers
16	Aston Villa
17	Southampton
17	Norwich City
18	Stoke City
20	Leicester City
25	West Bromwich Albion
22	Newcastle United
23	Manchester City
24	Leeds United
25	Everton
26	Derby County

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Under-21 Match Details, 2023-24

The section below contains team details, scorers, and brief match reports for Everton Under-21 matches during the 2023-24 Season.

Premier League 2

Starting in 2017-18, the U21 Premier League (which itself replaced the old Reserves league that stretched back to an age that pre-dated the formation of the Football League in 1888) was renamed Premier League 2. The latest changes for the new season see teams from the newly constituted 20-team PL2 only play each other once, either at home or away, based on a complicated draw. The top 16 teams go forward to a playoff stage, with the winner determined in the playoff final. There is no relegation from PL 2. Each team can field a goalkeeper over the age limit and up to three ‘over-age’ outfield players in every match.

2023-24 Format

Arsenal	Manchester United
Aston Villa	Middlesbrough
Blackburn Rovers	Newcastle United
Brighton & Hove Albion	Norwich City
Chelsea	Nottingham Forest
Crystal Palace	Reading
Derby County	Stoke City
Everton	Southampton
Fulham	Sunderland
Leeds United	Tottenham Hotspur
Leicester City	West Bromwich Albion
Liverpool	West Ham Utd
Manchester City	Wolverhampton Wanderers

 

The Average Age of PL2 squads in the 2023-24 season, as listed at Transfermarkt were:

Club	Squad	Average	Foreign
Newcastle United U23	21	20	6
Blackburn Rovers U23	16	19.8	4
Nottingham Forest U23	16	19.8	8
Sunderland AFC U23	16	19.8	1
Derby County U23	17	19.7	2
Manchester United U23	19	19.7	12
Middlesbrough FC U23	23	19.7	8
West Ham United U23	22	19.7	7
Stoke City U23	16	19.6	8
Birmingham City U23	18	19.5	3
Southampton FC B	19	19.5	1
Burnley FC U23	22	19.4	5
Tottenham Hotspur U23	21	19.4	9
Wolverhampton Wanderers U23	21	19.4	13
Arsenal FC U23	25	19.3	11
Brighton & Hove Albion U23	21	19.3	12
Everton FC U23	24	19.3	10
Crystal Palace U23	17	19.2	5
Fulham FC U23	16	19.2	9
Leicester City U23	18	19.2	10
Norwich City U23	15	19.2	8
Leeds United U23	17	19.1	7
West Bromwich Albion U23	15	19.1	3
Aston Villa U23	21	19	7
Liverpool FC U23	20	19	6

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Liverpool 4 - 0 Everton

Premier League 2; Game #1
Monday 14 August 2023
Liverpool Academy, Kirkby

Everton U21s opened the newly configured Premier League 2 season with a short trip to Kirkby where they suffered a heavy defeat to Liverpool U21s tonight.

 

Everton U21s: Crellin, Dixon, Butler (71' Maher), Moonan, Samuels-Smith, Metcalfe, Heath [Y:57'] (66' Djankpata), Paterson (56' Bates), Okoronkwo [Y:69'], Apter [Y:45+4'] (66' Mothersille), Kouyate. 

Subs not Used: Barrett.

 

EFL Trophy; Group H, Game #3
Tuesday 7 November 2023
One Call Stadium, Mansfield

Everton

 

Everton U21s: 

Subs not Used: 

 

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Under-21 Appearances, 2023-24

Player	League Apps (Sub)	League Goals	Cup Apps (Sub)	Cup Goals
Jenson Metcalfe	18 (0)	2	8 (0)	2
Roman Dixon	16 (1)	0	5 (2)	0
Katia Kouyate	15 (1)	3	3 (2)	0
Kyle John	13 (2)	0	5 (0)	0
Mackenzie Hunt	12 (0)	1	7 (0)	1
Halid Djankpata	10 (6)	1	6 (3)	0
Francis Okoronkwo	10 (1)	5	6 (0)	1
Reece Welch	10 (0)	1	3 (0)	0
Charlie Whitaker	9 (1)	3	1 (1)	0
Ryan Astley	9 (0)	0	4 (0)	0
Tyler Onyango	9 (0)	1	2 (1)	0
Isaac Heath	8 (6)	0	3 (1)	0
Fraser Barnsley	8 (0)	0	1 (0)	0
Luke Butterfield	7 (0)	0	3 (1)	0
Ed Jones	6 (4)	0	0 (0)	0
Billy Crellin	6 (0)	0	7 (0)	0
Eli Campbell	6 (0)	0	7 (0)	0
Harrison Armstrong	5 (4)	1	2 (1)	0
Jack Butler	5 (1)	0	0 (0)	0
Sean McAllister	5 (0)	3	4 (1)	3
Lewis Warrington	5 (0)	0	2 (0)	0
Bradley Moonan	4 (4)	1	1 (1)	0
Matt Apter	3 (1)	0	0 (1)	0
Jack Barrett	3 (0)	0	0 (0)	0
Jake Patterson	2 (1)	0	1 (2)	0
Lewis Dobbin	2 (0)	1	4 (0)	1
Andre Gomes	2 (0)	0	1 (0)	0
George Pickford	2 (0)	0	0 (0)	0
Callum Bates	1 (6)	0	1 (2)	0
Martin Sherif	1 (3)	1	1 (2)	0
Jacob Beaumont-Clark	1 (2)	0	0 (2)	0
Kingsford Boakye	1 (2)	0	0 (0)	0
Seamus Coleman	1 (0)	0	2 (0)	0
Joao Virginia	1 (0)	0	1 (0)	0
Arnaut Danjuma	1 (0)	0	0 (0)	0
Jack Harrison	1 (0)	0	0 (0)	0
Omari Benjamin	1 (0)	1	0 (0)	0
Odin Samuels-Smith	1 (0)	0	0 (0)	0
Owen Barker	0 (3)	0	0 (1)	0
Liam Higgins	0 (3)	0	0 (0)	0
Joel Catesby	0 (2)	0	0 (1)	0
George Morgan	0 (1)	0	1 (0)	0
Daniel Maher	0 (1)	0	0 (0)	0
Jack Tierney	0 (1)	0	0 (0)	0
Coby Ebere	0 (1)	0	0 (0)	0
Youssef Chermiti	0 (0)	0	3 (0)	4
Michael Keane	0 (0)	0	2 (0)	1
Ashley Young	0 (0)	0	1 (0)	0
Ben Godfrey	0 (0)	0	1 (0)	0

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2023-24 Friendlies

Forest Green Rovers 1 - 0 Everton U21s

Pre-season friendly; Game #1
Tuesday 19 July 2023
The New Lawn, Nailsworth

Everton U21s pre-season friendly at Forest Green Rovers ended in a 1-0 defeat this evening.

Mason Holgate skippered the Blues line-up, which was made up predominantly of Academy players, and played the first 45 minutes against the League Two outfit.

Forest Green started with seven trialists in their team and so keen were they to protect their identity, they were identified as ‘Trialist A’ through 'Trialist G'.

Rovers' fast start to the second half saw them take the lead just a minute after the restart when Trialist G’s attempted cross deceived Zan-Luk Leban, in the Everton goal and looped into the far corner of the net for the only goal of the game. 

Everton U21s: Leban, Maher, Butler, Holgate, Moonan, Metcalfe, Beaumont-Clark, Bates, Sherif, Apter, Heath. 

Subs: Barrett, Higgins, Davis, O Samuels-Smith, Patterson, Armstrong, Finney, Thomas, Van Schoor, Foster.

Tranmere Rovers 1 - 1 Everton XI

Pre-season friendly; Game #2
Saturday 22 July 2023
Prenton Park, Birkenhead

An Everton XI made up of mostly Under-21 players travelled to Prenton Park this afternoon for a run-out against Tranmere Rovers that ended in a draw.

This match featured mostly players from the Under-21s while the available first-team squad were involved in the senior side's second pre-season fixture that kicked off simultaneously at the DW Stadium against Wigan Athletic. 

Everton received an advance allocation of 1,700 tickets for visiting fans that went on sale earlier this week.

With Sean Dyche at Prenton Park to watch the youngsters, it is very much a topline Under-21 teamsheet with last season's loanees in addition to Holgate from the first-team squad. 

A very limited 6-man subs bench with two more goalkeepers named. 

The home side took the lead after the break but Stanley Mills equalized from the penalty spot 5 minutes before the end. 

Everton XI: Virginia, Higgins, Hunt, Holgate, Astley, Warrington, Kouyate, Onyango, Okoronkwo, Mills, Dobbin.
Subs: Crellin, Barrett, Heath, Sherif, Apter, Moonan.

Rangers B 3 - 0 Everton U21s

Pre-season friendly; Game #4
Wednesday 26 July 2023
Glasgow

On Wednesday afternoon, a very young Everton U21s side were defeated by Glasgow Rangers B team that included a number of more experienced players.

The starting line-up included a selection of players who weren't involved against Bolton on Tuesday in Everton's third pre-season friendly for the first team, which ended as a goalless draw.

A new name appeared as a sub to goalkeeper Billy Crellin at some point in the second half: Fraser Barnsley.

Everton U21s: Crellin (Barnsley), Dixon, Butler, Astley, Moonan, Metcalfe, Beaumont-Clarke, Bates, Sherif, Apter, Heath.
Subs:  O Samuels-Smith, Maher, Van Schoor, Armstrong, Thomas, Finney, Foster.