West Ham United U18s v Aston Villa U18s
U18 Premier League South, Little Heath Training Ground, Saturday 18 October 2025, 12.30pm BST
West Ham United U18s resume their Premier League South campaign this Saturday following the international break, hosting defending champions Aston Villa.
Following the promotion of U21 Academy coaching staff to Nuno Espírito Santo’s first-team staff and subsequent temporary Academy coaching changes, U18s Lead Coach Lauris Coggin will be assisted in the short term by Academy coach Luke Smith and Academy goalkeeping coach Josh Strizovic. The Club will make further announcements on the Academy coaching structure going forward at the appropriate time.
Coggin's side resume action after the October international window having defeated Nottingham Forest 2-1 a fortnight ago in their most-recent fixture on 4 October, when Northern Ireland U17 captain Joel Kerr scored both goals at Little Heath.
How To Follow…
A report and post-match reaction will be available on the Club’s website and app following the final whistle, with highlights to follow.
U18 Premier League Explained…
The U18 Premier League is divided into two regionalised divisions featuring all 29 Category One academies, 15 in the southern division and 14 in the northern. There are 18 clubs from the Premier League, ten from the EFL Championship and one from League One.
Each team faces each other home and away in their respective divisions. The two regional division champions play in a national final for the overall U18 Premier League title. The one-off tie is held at a main stadium.
Opposition...
Domestically, Aston Villa U18s won almost everything last season. Winners of Premier League South, they beat Manchester City in the FA Youth Cup final before defeating them again in the Premier League national final, completing their hat-trick of trophies.
Even in the domestic competition they didn’t win, the Premier League Cup - which was conquered by our young Hammers - they still managed to go unbeaten, but a tally of five points was not enough to progress to the quarter-finals as the best second-place team.
On the international stage they also gave a good account of themselves, as their U19s reached the round of 16 in the UEFA Youth League, only defeated by eventual champions FC Barcelona.
However, with all eleven players that started both the U18 Premier League and FA Youth Cup finals against Manchester City having moved up permanently to the U21s, the Villa side travelling to east London this time around will have a completely different look to it.
The new crop of young Villans have had a mixed start to their league campaign. The defending champions sit in mid-table with three wins and two defeats, which came in succession and saw them ship ten goals, while scoring just one. Since then however, their form has experienced a sharp upturn, winning all three of their games in all competitions, scoring 13 goals.
Previous Meeting…
Aston Villa’s last trip to Little Heath Training Ground came at the business end of last season, when the Villans won four of their last five league games to pip Southampton to the league title.
Coggin’s young Hammers, featuring four schoolboys in the starting line-up, three of which signed their full-time scholarships in July, stood up really well to the challenge, only losing out to a 70th-minute strike from Mason Cotcher.
That 1-0 defeat in April was the only league game our U18s had lost against Aston Villa since 2018, when a squad featuring Jacob Ramsey edged out the young Hammers at Bodymoor Heath Training Ground.
The Story So Far…
Our new crop of U18s scholars are still finding their feet in the league, sitting 12th after six games.
In the Premier League Cup however, a competition in which they are defending champions, they have opened their account with two victories, meaning a draw against Ipswich Town next month will see them qualify for the quarter-finals for the third season running.
Lauris Coggin's scholars have lost just once at home this season and return from the international break having won back-to-back home games against Fulham and Nottingham Forest.
U18 Premier League South Standings...
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Arsenal | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 14 |
| 2 | Chelsea | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 13 |
| 3 | Southampton | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 13 |
| 4 | Crystal Palace | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 12 |
| 5 | Leicester City | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 12 |
| 6 | Tottenham Hotspur | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 10 |
| 7 | Aston Villa | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | -4 | 9 |
| 8 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 |
| 9 | West Bromwich Albion | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| 10 | Fulham | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| 11 | Reading | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -7 | 5 |
| 12 | West Ham United | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | -9 | 4 |
| 13 | Birmingham City | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | -19 | 4 |
| 14 | Norwich City | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | -7 | 1 |
| 15 | Ipswich Town | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | -20 | 1 |
