The Season So Far For City’s Under-21s
- Leicester City’s Development Squad have three wins this season
- The young Foxes have gathered eight points in Premier League 2
- Amani Richards is the team's top goalscorer with three goals to his name
- City most recently drew 0-0 away to Brighton & Hove Albion
It’s been a challenging first half of the season for City’s Under-21s, who have eight points from their first nine games, having claimed two wins among five draws this league campaign.
After being eliminated from the Bristol Street Motors Trophy in November, City remain in two competitions; the regular PL2 season and the Premier League Cup, where they currently sit fourth with one win from four games in Group G.
The 2023/24 campaign started in bright fashion for the Foxes who beat Derby County 2-1 on the opening day, as Amani Richards and American winger Zach Booth both scored their first goals of the season in the victory.
After this, City went on to have a disappointing run of six straight defeats, against Arsenal and Blackburn Rovers before Kenneth Aboh sparked a Norwich City comeback in early September after Silko Thomas and Tawanda Maswanhise scored first.
This was followed by back-to-back losses in both cup competitions as Leicester lost out 4-3 to Burnley at LCFC Training Ground in their first Premier League Cup fixture, before a humbling defeat to Wigan Athletic in the EFL Trophy, despite Arjan Raikhy opened the scoring at DW Stadium.
Richards, who progressed to the Development Squad after an impressive season with the Under-18s which saw him reach double figures for goals, scored his third of the term in a 3-1 loss to Middlesborough back in league action.
Leicester returned to winning ways in late September with a 3-1 win against Fulham at Motspur Park; Wanya Marçal, Thomas and Kian Pennant finding the net in London to secure a second PL2 win.
The Foxes returned to Fulham the following week in Premier League Cup action and were this time beaten 4-0 by the hosts before securing a first and only win in the EFL Trophy – a 1-0 win against Tranmere Rovers thanks to a Thomas goal in the ninth minute at Prenton Park.
City’s youngsters picked up their first draw of the season at Kingsmeadow when Ben Nelson cancelled out a Brodi Hughes opener to share the PL2 points with Chelsea, before their final EFL Trophy clash.
Two first half goals from Ryan Broom sent Fleetwood Town on their way to a 4-0 win at Highbury Stadium in Lancashire, which meant the Foxes’ excited the competition in the group stage, having finished third in Group D with three points.
City switched attention to the Premier League Cup when they took on Brentford at Wheatsheaf Park in mid-November. Despite a dominant performance, Leicester were beaten by an early strike from Valintino Adedokun in their third game of the tournament.
At the start of December, meanwhile, Pennant netted his second goal of the campaign in a 3-1 loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers in PL2, which saw the long-awaited return of midfielder Will Alves from injury, before a win over Burnley and a goalless stalemate with Brighton & Hove Albion rounded off the year.
Thomas and Under-18s’ forward Logan Briggs netted second-half goals to overturn a losing position away to the Clarets to claim their first win in Group G of the Premier League Cup. City are now two points behind second-placed Brentford with two games remaining in the New Year.
The final fixture of 2023 saw Leicester head to the south coast where they picked up their eighth point in the league, after playing out a 0-0 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion at American Express Elite Football Performance Complex.