Swansea City FC Youth Academy Training Centre

Friday 6th December 2024 -  19:00
Swansea
- Days
- Hrs
- Mins
- Secs
1
v
1
WBA
Stream on WBA TV
Key Events

A photo of Albion u21 striker Eseosa Sule in the 2024/25 home kit

A very important match lies ahead for Albion Under-21s when they face Swansea City in South Wales on Friday night (ko 7pm). 

Richard Beale's young Baggies play their penultimate Premier League Cup match needing to avoid defeat to stay in with a chance of qualifying for the knockout stages of the tournament. 

Next opponents City are currently just one point above them in Group C having lost their last game to Fleetwood Town, who Albion play in their last preliminary match of the competition. 

PL Cup | Group C Table
PositionClubPLWDLGDPTS
1Southampton422048
2Swansea City420256
3Albion412105
4Fleetwood Town4103-93

Last time out

A crazy final 10 minutes saw Albion concede a 2-0 lead and draw 2-2 away at Southampton in their recent PL Cup match. 

Eseosa Sule and Evan Humphries had put the visitors in firm control of the game heading into the closing stages, but two goals - as well as a red card for defender Muhamed Diomande - resulted in a share of the spoils for a 10-man Baggies team on the south coast. 

Venue

The Swansea City Youth Academy Training Centre will be the next venue for Albion's PL2 squad. 

A photo of Swansea City's Academy Training Centre
Swansea's Academy base will host Friday night's match-up

Pre-match thoughts

Eseosa Sule took a while to get off the mark for the campaign, but having done so in the Premier League Cup last month, he's hoping to net another important goal in the competition this week. 

The Glaswegian notched the decisive goal as Beale's Baggies dispatched Fleetwood Town 3-2 for their first victory in the tournament - running the length of the pitch before providing a cool finish to earn an important three points. 

It certainly seemed to be the catalyst for the 18-year-old's recent confidence, with the forward notching four goals in three games across all competitions since then - including back-to-back efforts in the PL Cup. 

Some more goals in South Wales would do nicely for Albion's chances of qualifying for the knockouts, and beating the Swans this Friday is the only thing on Sule's mind.

A photo of U21 striker Eseosa Sule arriving at The Hawthorns for a PL2 game
Sule has scored four in his last three matches in PL Youth competitions

He said: "It’s obviously a great feeling to be back amongst the goals again but it was all due to my perseverance. 

"I’m a striker who gets a lot of chances so in my head, I know one would go in eventually and once it did, they seemed to keep coming after that. 

"We know this is a must-win game to give ourselves the best possible chance of progressing in this competition. 

"The last time we played Swansea we weren’t clinical enough and they beat us 2-1 despite only having a handful of shots at our goal. 

"So we were a bit hard done by and that’s definitely the top priority now - to put things right this time around."

A photo of U21 striker Eseosa Sule in the 2024/25 home kit
Sule has described Friday as a "must-win" match for Albion's PL Cup hopes. Photo Credit | GEvans Photography

How to follow

There will be live updates across our social media channels for Friday evening's PL Cup match against Swansea. 

The full report, reaction and highlights from the match will be available on the website over the weekend. 

Reyes Cleary.

Albion Under-21s were held by Swansea City in their penultimate Premier League Cup group clash on Friday night.

A late Reyes Cleary penalty appeared to have sealed all three points, until Swansea scored in the dying embers to restrict Richard Beale’s Baggies to a draw.

The result leaves Albion third in Group C with six points heading into deciding tie against Fleetwood Town on the final day of January.

Winger Ollie Bostock sent the Baggies flying out of the traps with attacking intent, rattling the woodwork twice within the first seven minutes of the tie, while Harry Whitwell blazed over from inside the penalty area.

The hosts were reduced to ten just before the half-hour mark. Target man Eseosa Sule appeared to be through on goal, before being taken down by Swans defender Sebastian Dabrowski. 

With Albion keen to take immediate advantage of the man advantage, Deago Nelson was played into space by Bostock before drilling wide of the mark.

Sule looked to have made the breakthrough just before the half-time whistle but his goal was ruled offside by the linesman.

Eseosa Sule.
Eseosa Sule in action for Albion.

The Glaswegian almost grabbed the opener following the restart too, this time being denied by the onrushing Evan Watts, who closed down the angle well, while captain Reece Hall also fired over from just outside of the six-yard area.  

Though down to 10, Swansea remained a threat on the break and forced a strong stop from Ben Cisse, who reacted sharply to deny Glory Nzingo and then Aimar Govea in quick succession.

Substitute Cleary dispatched a penalty in the latter stages of the tie, which looked to be the decisive goal until Sammie Henia-Kamau notched an equaliser to leave Group C in the balance heading into the final matchday.

Albion: Cisse, Nelson, Hall, Mfuamba, Dupont, Shaw (Humphries 64’), Crowther, Iddrisa (Cleary 59’), Whitwell, Bostock (Chimeziri 74’), Sule (Higgins 74’).

Substitutes: Wallis (GK).