U18 Preview: Saints vs Leicester

THE MATCH

Saints vs Leicester
Under-18 Premier League
Staplewood Campus
Saturday 2nd October, 11am BST

Saints’ youngsters will be looking to bounce back after their first league defeat of the season last weekend at Crystal Palace.

Leicester were on the other side of a 1-0 score line last time out, claiming victory over previously unbeaten Chelsea.

PREVIOUS MEETINGS

Leicester cliched victory over Saints when the teams met back in February, with Oliver James Ewing netting the only goal of the game.

It was Saints that came out on top in their previous meeting, though, as they raced to an 8-2 victory at Staplewood.

Sam Bellis bagged himself a hattrick, while Kazeem Olaigbe, Goran Babic, Jack Henry Turner and Diamond Edwards also found themselves on the score sheet.

The two sides finished the 2020/21 season bottom of the Under 18 Premier League table, but will be looking to switch their fortunes this time around.

MANAGER'S THOUGHTS

“I think there’s lost of positives to come from the game [against Crystal Palace]. Obviously the result was disappointing but it was a very tight game.

“I think we saw lots of positives in relation to our principles of play and the things that we’ve been working on with the players over the course of pre-season and into the start of the season.

“We had two Under-16s starting the game which was really positive and obviously we’ve had lads stepping up into the B Team as well."

despite the score line there were lots of positives to come out of the game.

mikey harris
under 18s individual coach

“We had a good result in the week in terms of the Premier League Cup with the Under-17s.

“We managed to win that game 7-0 so that’s put us in a really good place going into Leicester, the lads are full of confidence.

“It’ll be a really tough challenge against Leicester but it’s one we’re looking forward to. It’s another step on the journey for the lads in terms of what we’ve been working on.”