# 2017–18 Professional U23 Development League

The 2017–18 Professional U23 Development League was the sixth season of the Professional Development League system.

## Premier League 2
### Division 1
#### Table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Arsenal U23s (C) | 22 | 13 | 3 | 6 | 48 | 32 | +16 | 42 |
| 2 | Liverpool U23s | 22 | 13 | 1 | 8 | 43 | 27 | +16 | 40 |
| 3 | Leicester City U23s | 22 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 36 | 20 | +16 | 39 |
| 4 | Swansea City U23s | 22 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 40 | 31 | +9 | 37 |
| 5 | West Ham United U23s | 22 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 30 | 32 | −2 | 31 |
| 6 | Manchester City U23s | 22 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 41 | 31 | +10 | 30 |
| 7 | Everton U23s | 22 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 32 | 36 | −4 | 30 |
| 8 | Chelsea U23s | 22 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 34 | 35 | −1 | 29 |
| 9 | Tottenham Hotspur U23s | 22 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 38 | 48 | −10 | 26 |
| 10 | Derby County U23s | 22 | 7 | 3 | 12 | 32 | 44 | −12 | 24 |
| 11 | Sunderland U23s (R) | 22 | 6 | 4 | 12 | 19 | 39 | −20 | 22 |
| 12 | Manchester United U23s (R) | 22 | 4 | 8 | 10 | 22 | 40 | −18 | 20 |

#### Results

| Home \ Away | ARS | CHE | DER | EVE | LEI | LIV | MNC | MNU | SUN | SWA | TOT | WHU |
| Arsenal U23s | | 3–1 | 3–3 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 4–3 | 4–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 3–0 |
| Chelsea U23s | 2–2 | | 2–0 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 3–2 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 0–0 |
| Derby County U23s | 2–3 | 0–3 | | 0–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–4 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 3–3 | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| Everton U23s | 4–2 | 2–1 | 1–3 | | 0–1 | 1–3 | 3–4 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 0–4 |
| Leicester City U23s | 3–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 | | 4–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 6–1 | 3–1 |
| Liverpool U23s | 1–1 | 5–1 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 1–2 | | 1–0 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 1–3 | 4–2 | 0–1 |
| Manchester City U23s | 0–1 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 0–3 | 2–2 | 3–2 | | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 4–2 | 0–1 |
| Manchester United U23s | 0–2 | 0–4 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 1–1 | | 4–0 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 0–3 |
| Sunderland U23s | 1–3 | 0–5 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 1–4 | 0–2 | 0–1 | | 0–2 | 2–1 | 1–2 |
| Swansea City U23s | 3–1 | 2–0 | 5–2 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 0–2 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 1–0 | | 2–2 | 3–0 |
| Tottenham Hotspur U23s | 3–2 | 2–3 | 4–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–5 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 | | 2–3 |
| West Ham United U23s | 1–3 | 0–1 | 1–5 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 4–2 | 0–1 | 5–2 | 2–2 | |

### Division 2
#### Table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or qualification |
| 1 | Blackburn Rovers U23s (P) | 22 | 15 | 4 | 3 | 47 | 20 | +27 | 49 | Promotion to Division 1 |
| 2 | Aston Villa U23s | 22 | 14 | 1 | 7 | 51 | 29 | +22 | 43 | Qualification for Play-offs |
| 3 | Brighton & Hove Albion U23s (P) | 22 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 46 | 25 | +21 | 40 | Qualification for Play-offs |
| 4 | Middlesbrough U23s | 22 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 41 | 36 | +5 | 37 | Qualification for Play-offs |
| 5 | Reading U23s | 22 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 38 | 44 | −6 | 34 | Qualification for Play-offs |
| 6 | Southampton U23s | 22 | 10 | 3 | 9 | 41 | 37 | +4 | 33 | |
| 7 | Fulham U23s | 22 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 38 | 37 | +1 | 30 | |
| 8 | Norwich City U23s | 22 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 32 | 33 | −1 | 30 | |
| 9 | Wolverhampton Wanderers U23s | 22 | 8 | 4 | 10 | 30 | 41 | −11 | 28 | |
| 10 | Newcastle United U23s | 22 | 6 | 3 | 13 | 29 | 45 | −16 | 21 | |
| 11 | Stoke City U23s | 22 | 6 | 2 | 14 | 31 | 46 | −15 | 20 | |
| 12 | West Bromwich Albion U23s | 22 | 2 | 3 | 17 | 21 | 52 | −31 | 9 | |

#### Results

| Home \ Away | AST | BLB | B&H | FUL | MID | NEW | NOR | REA | SOT | STO | WBA | WOL |
| Aston Villa U23s | | 0–3 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 4–0 | 6–0 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 4–0 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 6–1 |
| Blackburn Rovers U23s | 0–1 | | 0–2 | 4–0 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 5–1 |
| Brighton & Hove Albion U23s | 3–0 | 2–2 | | 4–2 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 5–1 | 5–1 | 1–1 |
| Fulham U23s | 2–3 | 0–1 | 1–1 | | 1–2 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 0–3 |
| Middlesbrough U23s | 4–1 | 3–3 | 0–3 | 0–2 | | 1–0 | 4–0 | 3–4 | 3–3 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 3–1 |
| Newcastle United U23s | 2–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | | 2–2 | 4–1 | 1–5 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–1 |
| Norwich City U23s | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 4–3 | | 2–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| Reading U23s | 3–2 | 3–5 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–3 | 1–4 | 2–2 | | 1–1 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 |
| Southampton U23s | 1–4 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 3–4 | 2–1 | 6–2 | 2–1 | 4–0 | | 3–0 | 3–2 | 2–4 |
| Stoke City U23s | 1–3 | 0–1 | 2–3 | 4–1 | 3–2 | 3–4 | 1–3 | 2–3 | 0–2 | | 4–2 | 1–0 |
| West Bromwich Albion U23s | 1–4 | 1–4 | 5–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–4 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | | 1–2 |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers U23s | 0–2 | 0–3 | 0–5 | 1–4 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 4–2 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | |

##### Play-offs

| Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final | Final |
| 2 | Aston Villa U23s | 4 | | | |
| 5 | Reading U23s | 3 | | | |
| 5 | Reading U23s | 3 | 2 | Aston Villa U23s | 0 |
| | | | 3 | Brighton & Hove Albion U23s | 2 |
| 3 | Brighton & Hove Albion U23s | 3 | 3 | Brighton & Hove Albion U23s | 2 |
| 4 | Middlesbrough U23s | 0 | | | |

#### Final
## Professional Development League

The Professional Development League is the sixth campaign of post-EPPP Under-23 football's second tier, designed for those academies with Category 2 status. A total of 21 teams are split regionally into north and south divisions, with each team facing opponents in their own region twice both home and away and opponents in the other region once for a total of 30 games each in the North Division, and 29 games in the South division.
At the end of the season, the teams finishing in the top two positions of both divisions will meet in the knockout stage to determine the overall league champion. Burnley U23s were officially granted Category Two status in the summer of 2017 and became the league's 21st team.

### Tables
#### North Division

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Bolton Wanderers U23s | 30 | 16 | 3 | 11 | 50 | 44 | +6 | 51 | Qualification for Knock-out stage |
| 2 | Nottingham Forest U23s | 30 | 13 | 11 | 6 | 65 | 50 | +15 | 50 | Qualification for Knock-out stage |
| 3 | Sheffield Wednesday U23s | 30 | 14 | 8 | 8 | 48 | 39 | +9 | 50 | |
| 4 | Sheffield United U23s | 30 | 14 | 3 | 13 | 50 | 43 | +7 | 45 | |
| 5 | Hull City U23s | 30 | 14 | 3 | 13 | 47 | 57 | −10 | 45 | |
| 6 | Leeds United U23s | 30 | 13 | 5 | 12 | 50 | 46 | +4 | 44 | |
| 7 | Huddersfield Town U23s | 30 | 12 | 5 | 13 | 49 | 53 | −4 | 41 | |
| 8 | Birmingham City U23s | 30 | 10 | 8 | 12 | 46 | 42 | +4 | 38 | |
| 9 | Crewe Alexandra U23s | 30 | 10 | 5 | 15 | 38 | 53 | −15 | 35 | |
| 10 | Burnley U23s | 30 | 10 | 4 | 16 | 33 | 54 | −21 | 34 | |
| 11 | Barnsley U23s | 30 | 9 | 6 | 15 | 49 | 55 | −6 | 33 | |

#### South Division

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Crystal Palace U23s | 29 | 19 | 3 | 7 | 67 | 31 | +36 | 60 | Qualification for Knock-out stage |
| 2 | Charlton Athletic U23s | 29 | 14 | 6 | 9 | 51 | 39 | +12 | 48 | Qualification for Knock-out stage |
| 3 | Ipswich Town U23s | 29 | 13 | 5 | 11 | 61 | 49 | +12 | 44 | |
| 4 | Watford U23s | 29 | 11 | 8 | 10 | 56 | 44 | +12 | 41 | |
| 5 | Coventry City U23s | 29 | 11 | 6 | 12 | 54 | 60 | −6 | 39 | |
| 6 | Queens Park Rangers U23s | 29 | 11 | 5 | 13 | 54 | 59 | −5 | 38 | |
| 7 | Colchester United U23s | 29 | 10 | 7 | 12 | 39 | 48 | −9 | 37 | |
| 8 | Millwall U23s | 29 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 28 | 38 | −10 | 37 | |
| 9 | Cardiff City U23s | 29 | 10 | 5 | 14 | 38 | 51 | −13 | 35 | |
| 10 | Bristol City U23s | 29 | 5 | 8 | 16 | 39 | 57 | −18 | 23 | |

### Knock-out stage

Semi-finals
Final