Preview | U21s travel to Manchester United for PL2 quarter-final

Manchester United U21s v West Ham United U21s
Premier League 2 Play-Offs Quarter-Finals, Leigh Sports Village, Monday 5 May 2025, 3pm BST

West Ham United U21s continue their Premier League 2 play-off campaign with a trip to Leigh Sports Village to face Manchester United in the quarter-finals on Bank Holiday Monday.

The young Hammers qualified for the last eight of the play-offs with a 3-1 round of 16 victory at home to Sunderland, last year’s finalists who had knocked them out on penalties at this stage last season.

All eight top seeds progressed from the first knockout round, meaning no upsets and a last eight made up entirely of the highest-ranked sides.

How To Follow…

The game will be blogged live on the Club's official website and app, while a live stream of the fixture will be available on the Club’s YouTube channel. A match report, highlights and reaction will also follow the full-time whistle.

Tickets...

Tickets for Monday afternoon’s game are e-ticket only. Once purchased on the Leigh Sports Village website, fans will receive their ticket via email which can either be printed to scan or shown on their smartphone at the turnstiles. Tickets are priced at just £3 for Adults and £1 for Concessions.

Travel...

The postcode for Leigh Sports Village - home of Manchester United’s women’s team and U21s - is WN7 4JY.

The 12,000-seater venue is located between Manchester and Liverpool, just a few minutes off the A580 and the M6 with ample parking for those arriving by car.

Premier League 2 Explained…

To minimise the impact of relegation on future groups of U21 players, the Premier League introduced a new format to its development phase competition in 2023/24.

Replacing the two-division system, the 26 Category One academies now compete in a single tier with 20 regular-season fixtures before the top 16 seeded teams advance to single-elimination play-offs. The top 12 are also rewarded with a place in the following season’s Premier League International Cup competition.

The post-season play-offs began with the round of 16 in April and the quarter finals, semi-finals and final will take place this month in May.

Opposition…

Manchester United were knocked out in the round of 16 last season, losing 6-2 to an Arsenal side featuring current first-team players Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri.

With a handful of their U18 Premier League and Cup double-winning squad stepping up to the development side this term, the Red Devils secured the fifth seed, a marked improvement on last season’s 12th.

Despite being the lower seed, Manchester United carry strong form into this fixture, unbeaten in six games since February, scoring 19 goals in that run. In recent head-to-heads, Manchester United have also had the edge, unbeaten in the last four meetings with three wins, including the last time the two sides met in November 2024.  

Previous Meeting...

The two sides last met in November in a Premier League 2 regular season clash. Though the Irons matched their opponents for the entire contest, Manchester United stole the points late on courtesy of a 96th-minute free-kick from Ethan Ennis.

Ones To Watch...

The player with the most direct goal involvements for West Ham's U21s, Kamarai Swyer has eight goals and ten assists this season. His combination of strength and skill have made him an indispensable figure on the wing for the development side. His hold up play when playing out under pressure and his ability to drive the ball at defenders have been central to West Ham's attacking play all season. Within 20 seconds of kick-off in the round of 16, Swyer set up Josh Ajala’s opener and was also heavily involved in Ryan Battrum’s goal which put the game beyond doubt.

On loan at Walsall, Ethan Wheatley stepped back into Manchester United’s U21s squad last weekend for their Premier League 2 round of 16 tie against Everton, scoring a brace as the Red Devils came from behind twice to win 4-2. The 19-year-old became Manchester United’s landmark 250th academy graduate when he made his Premier League debut against Sheffield United in April 2024, just two days after scoring in the U18 Premier League final win over Chelsea. Before joining Walsall in January, Wheatley had scored six goals in nine Premier League 2 games and had featured in multiple Manchester United first-team squads.

Route To The Final...

As the fourth seed, West Ham had home advantage in the round of 16 tie against Sunderland. They’ll now be on the road for both the quarter-final and a potential semi-final, but would host the final should they make it that far.