Everton Under-23s to face tougher competition next season

All youth football in England was curtailed during the coronavirus-enforced break, with the Premier League 2 (for Under-23’s) and the Under-18 Premier League both then failing to resume during the summer and remaining in limbo.

At the Premier League shareholders meeting last week the decision was made to cease the seasons with the titles being award on a points per game basis. They also announced some structural changes to the two divisions in PL2.

Chelsea have been crowned champions of the PL2, finishing ahead of Leicester City and Brighton & Hove Albion. The defending champions and double winners Everton languished well behind this season in seventh, 16 points off the winners and only 11 ahead of Wolverhampton Wanderers who were relegated from Division 1.

Coming up in their stead are Division 2 champions West Ham United, as well as second-placed Manchester United, with the powers that be likely making that odd promotion more so to increase the profile of PL2 than any other common sense.

Three new Category 1 Academies - Burnley, Crystal Palace and Leeds United - will join Division 2 next season, with Division 1 consisting of 13 teams and Division 2 comprising 14 sides.

In the Premier League Cup the Everton U23s had beaten Reading in their Round of 16 clash to qualify for the quarterfinals but the competition has been canceled for the season.

Manchester City were awarded the U18 Premier League North title with Fulham winning the South version, and the Mancunians winning the overall title based on points per game with the national playoff match also canceled. The Toffees were in third place and twelve points off City with six games to play at the time of the interruption.