All Change Again In U21's League Set Up

There was confirmation yesterday from the Premier League of the U21's fixtures for the coming season and also confirmation to some changes within the set up of the league.

First to the changes to the league. Last season the league was just one league with Chelsea having to play each team once either home or away and then the top 4 at the end of the season went into a play off for the chance to be declared Champions, which Chelsea eventually were.

This season however the set up is slightly different, there are now two divisions with 12 teams in each division, Chelsea will have to play each team in their division twice once home and once away and this season there is relegation and promotion between the two divisions. Also there is no play off at the end of the season, the team that finished top after 22 games will be the Champions.

The leagues have been split up on the basis of where each team finished in last seasons league, so the first division is made up of the teams that finished in the top half of last seasons table, that includes Chelsea, the full list is:

Chelsea
Everton
Fulham
Leicester City
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Norwich City
Southampton
Sunderland
Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United

Those are the teams that Chelsea will be competing against this season. The league has also tried to get as many games as possible played at first team stadiums which is great but difficult to agree to and Chelsea only have 3 games scheduled to be played at the Bridge at the moment. In addition for the first time there will be games regularly broadcast on both Sky Sports and BT Sports which adds to the stature of the competition.

There are also stories that there will be a Premier League U21's International Tournament involving teams from other countries. Details of that are yet to surface but if that is the case then alongside the League, League Cup and UEFA Youth League campaigns means a lot of games at this level which is a very good thing.

So the fixtures that have been confirmed including dates for the initial stages of the UEFA Youth League are as follows:

Friday 15th August - v Manchester City (H)
Tuesday 19th August - v Porto (A) - No idea what this fixture is part of ATM
Monday 25th August - v Norwich City (A)
TBC - v Everton (A)
Tuesday 16th / Wednesday 15th September - v UEFA Youth League Game 1
Saturday 27th September - v Leicester City (A)
Tuesday 30th September / Wednesday 1st October - v UEFA Youth League Game 2
Friday 17th October - v Fulham (H)
Tuesday 21st / Wednesday 22nd October - v UEFA Youth League Game 3
Monday 27th October - v Tottenham Hotspur (A)
Tuesday 4th / Wednesday 5th November - v UEFA Youth League Game 4
Sunday 9th November - v Manchester United (H)
Tuesday 25th / Wednesday 26th November - v UEFA Youth League Game 5
Monday 8th December - v West Ham United (A)
Tuesday 9th / Wednesday 10th December - v UEFA Youth League Game 6
Sunday 14th December - v Sunderland (H)
Monday 5th January - v Liverpool (A)
Saturday 10th January - v Manchester City (A)
Monday 26th January - v Norwich City (H)
Monday 2nd February - v Southampton (H)
Monday 9th February - v Manchester United (A)
Sunday 22nd February - v Everton (H)
Friday 6th March - v Leicester City (H)
Friday 13th March - v Fulham (A)
Friday 3rd April - Tottenham Hotspur (H)
Monday 20th April - v Southampton (A)
Sunday 2nd May - v West Ham (H)
Monday 11th May - v Sunderland (A)
Friday 15th May - v Liverpool (H)

Hopefully there will be another exciting season in store and we have a title to defend too.