Liverpool U18

English U18 Premier League Cup

Crystal Palace

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St. James' Park

Aston Villa

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Crystal Palace U18

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A comprehensive look at the Under 18 Premier League Cup competition's format, structure and progression. Previewing Crystal Palace's games in the 2023/24 edition.

All you need to know about the U18 Premier League Cup

### Palace's U18 PL Cup campaign in 2023/24

Palace started their campaign in the 2023/24 U18 Premier League Cup with [a remarkable 6-1 win over Liverpool](https://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/match-reports/crystal-palace-liverpool-u18-premier-league-cup-2324/) - a side they wouldn’t have normally faced during the season. Goals from Hindolo Mustapha, George King, Jesse Derry, along with a hat-trick from Zach Marsh, saw the side top Group G after the first round of fixtures.

Following the win aganist Liverpool, Fulham claimed top spot with two wins out of two. The young Eagles [fell to defeat against Newcastle](https://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/match-reports/newcastle-united-crystal-palace-u18-premier-league-cup-2324/) in their second game of the group stage, which set up a winner-takes-all final game of the group phase against the Cottagers.

U18 Match Highlights: Crystal Palace 6-1 Liverpool

In a topsy-turvy game against their west London rivals, Palace were two goals to the good before finding themselves two goals behind as Fulham made it 2-4. Rob Quinn's side displayed their resilience to fight back and make it 4-4, before [winning it right at the death in the 94th minute](https://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/match-reports/crystal-palace-fulham-u18-premier-league-cup-2324/).

Beating Fulham meant that Palace topped the group on goal difference and progressed to the quarter-final of the tournament for the first time.

They then hosted Aston Villa, who topped their group with three wins out of three against Leeds United, Nottingham Forest and Norwich City.

Their one previous meeting this season saw the [10-men of Palace beat the nine men of Villa 3-2](https://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/match-reports/crystal-palace-aston-villa-u18-premier-league-2324/) in an utterly chaotic affair. It was a more straightforward afair as Palace managed to brush aside the Villains in [a comfortable 3-0 victory](https://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/match-reports/crystal-palace-aston-villa-u18-premier-league-cup-2324/).

This set up a semi-final clash against Manchester United on Saturday, 2nd March (11:00 GMT) and the winner will go on to face either Leicester City or Manchester City in the final.

The game will be streamed LIVE on Palace TV+, subject to the required permissions being granted.

Subscribe to Palace TV+

U18 Premier League Cup Highlights: Crystal Palace 3-0 Aston Villa

### The U18 Premier League Cup Explained

Initially launched in the 2017/18 season, the U18 Premier League Cup brings an additional layer of competitiveness - through cup-style knockout football - to complement the U18 Premier League calendar.

Divided into seven groups of four teams, the U18 Premier League Cup features clubs facing off against each other once in the group stage, either at home or away.

The tournament also removes the regionalisation of north and south, which currently splits the league format, meaning sides will get to experience opposition they wouldn’t face under normal circumstances.

Progression to the quarter-finals is determined by the seven group winners and the top-performing runner-up, based on total points, goal difference, and subsequently, head-to-head records.

Each game from the quarter-final onwards will be one-off ties and will be decided on the day. Extra-time and penalties will be used if the scores remain level after 90 minutes.

### U18 Premier League Cup 23/24

#### Group Stage

- [Crystal Palace 6-1 Liverpool](https://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/match-reports/crystal-palace-liverpool-u18-premier-league-cup-2324/)
- [Newcastle United 4-1 Crystal Palace](https://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/match-reports/newcastle-united-crystal-palace-u18-premier-league-cup-2324/)
- [Crystal Palace 5-4 Fulham](https://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/match-reports/crystal-palace-fulham-u18-premier-league-cup-2324/)

#### Quarter-final

- [Crystal Palace 3-0 Aston Villa](https://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/match-reports/crystal-palace-aston-villa-u18-premier-league-cup-2324/)

### Semi-final

- Manchester United U18s v Crystal Palace U18s

- 11:00 GMT

- Carrington

Crystal Palace Under-18s will face Manchester United U18s in the semi-final of the U18 Premier League Cup on Saturday, 2nd March (11:00 GMT). Here’s everything you need to know about the competition and Palace’s story so far.

Crystal Palace U18 v Fulham U18 (2023-11-25)

Newcastle United U18 v Crystal Palace U18 (2023-11-16)

Crystal Palace U18 v Liverpool U18 (2023-09-02)

Crystal Palace U18 v Aston Villa U18 (2024-02-03)

## Summary

- Quinn makes three changes to the side which beat Reading last time out

- Mustapha puts Palace ahead six minutes in

- King heads home a second for Palace on his first start

- Marsh adds a third just before half-time

- Liverpool pull one back in first-half stoppage time through Danns

- **HT: Palace 3-1 Liverpool**

- Derry nets his fifth goal of the season shortly after half-time

- Eastwood denies Liverpool with a strong double save

- Morrison’s effort is tipped onto the bar by Eastwood in the 75th minute

- Marsh secures his brace after lax Liverpool defending

- Marsh seals hat-trick just before second-half stoppage time

- **FT:  Palace 6-1 Liverpool**

A week on from [the 2-1 win against Reading](https://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/match-reports/match-report-highlights-crystal-palace-reading-under-18s-august-2023/), which saw the side go top of the Under 18 Premier League South table, Crystal Palace U18s began their campaign in the Premier League Cup against Liverpool.

Head coach Rob Quinn made three changes to the side, with Caleb Kporha, George King and Seb Williams coming in for Kai-Reece Adams-Collman, Mofe Jemide and Tyler Whyte.

Palace were pressing from the front and causing problems for the visitors early on. They made their early pressure count by finding the breakthrough six minutes in.

Hindolo Mustapha did brilliantly to intercept a pass to Ben Trueman just outside the box and raced towards goal with the ball in his stride. He coolly slotted into the side netting to give the young Eagles the lead.

After going a goal ahead, Quinn’s side kept pushing in search of another. They duly got a second just over 10 minutes later through King on his first start of the season.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">First start ✅<br>First goal ✅<br>George King 👑<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CPFC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CPFC</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/U18PLCup?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#U18PLCup</a></p>&mdash; Crystal Palace F.C. Academy (@CPFCAcademy) <a href="https://twitter.com/CPFCAcademy/status/1697920605381669192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 2, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> 

The centre-back rose highest to get on the end of a brilliant delivery from a Jesse Derry free-kick, heading home at the first time of asking.

The young Eagles were in complete control as the half wore on, with Williams, Matteo Dashi and Zach Marsh coming close to adding more goals to the tally. 

Marsh did in fact notch his first of the game just before half-time. The striker found himself in the right place at the right time to pounce on a misplaced pass, after great pressing from Dashi, and finished with ease past a helpless Kornel Misicur in the Liverpool goal.

Liverpool did manage to pull one back in first-half stoppage time, with Jayden Danns finding space inside the box and firing a fierce shot into the back of the net.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Palace Press™️<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CPFC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CPFC</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/U18PLCup?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#U18PLCup</a></p>&mdash; Crystal Palace F.C. Academy (@CPFCAcademy) <a href="https://twitter.com/CPFCAcademy/status/1697927902136766566?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 2, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> 

After the interval, both sides came racing out the blocks in search of the crucial next goal. Liverpool were looking to bring the deficit down to one, while Palace were looking to replenish their three-goal lead.

The south Londoners did exactly that just 10 minutes after the restart as Derry slotted home his fifth goal of the season. Mustapha did well to intercept another pass in the final-third and played a perfectly weighted ball into Derry’s path - the winger couldn’t miss, curling it in on his right foot.

Billy Eastwood was called into action shortly after Derry’s goal and managed to pull off two fine stops. The young Palace ‘keeper came rushing off his line to smother Trent Kone-Doherty’s attempt and reacted brilliantly to charge down and collect the ball before Danns could get a clean shot away.

Eastwood again reacted well to tip a long-range effort from Kiernan Morrison onto the crossbar in the 75th minute. It looked as though the young Eagles were going to see out the game, though captain Marsh had other ideas.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Top goalkeeping to deny Liverpool 😤<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CPFC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CPFC</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/U18PLCup?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#U18PLCup</a></p>&mdash; Crystal Palace F.C. Academy (@CPFCAcademy) <a href="https://twitter.com/CPFCAcademy/status/1697936518176817242?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 2, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> 

Reacting quickest to a misplaced pass from Misicur, Marsh added a fifth for Palace with seven minutes to go. He then secured his second hat-trick of the season after getting on the end of a perfectly threaded ball from Adams-Collman and finishing on his right foot.

Marsh’s hat-trick and Palace’s sixth came just before six minutes of stoppage time. The referee duly brought an end to proceedings after the allotted time and that signalled a winning start to Palace’s U18 Premier League Cup campaign. They are top of Group G on goal difference, ahead of second-place Fulham.

**Palace**: Eastwood (GK), Kporha (Adams-Collman, 16), King, Grante, Cardines, Austin, Williams (Elliott, 77), Mustapha, Dashi (Redhead, 89), Marsh, Derry (Omobolaji, 89).

Sub not used: Hill (GK).

**Liverpool**: Misicur (GK), Pitt, Gyimah, Lucky, Nallo (Furnell-Gill, 77), Trueman (Laffey, 77), Kone-Doherty, Ahmed, Danns, Ngoni (Onanuga, 63), Morrison.

Subs not used: Morana (GK), Giblin.

Crystal Palace Under-18s got their Premier League Cup campaign off to the best possible start, firing six past Liverpool in a dominant performance at Copers Cope. Goals from Hindolo Mustapha, George King, Jesse Derry, along with a hat-trick from Zach Marsh, sees the side top Group G after the first round of fixtures.

Report & Highlights: Scintillating Palace hit Liverpool for six

Rob Quinn’s side will face tricky tests against three Category One Academy sides, two of which are outside of their regular regional league opposition - Liverpool and Newcastle.

Liverpool, who Palace face on Saturday, 2nd September (11:00 BST), finished sixth in the U18 Premier League North last season, while Newcastle finished in 12th out of a possible 13th in the same division.

Fulham will be more familiar opposition - having narrowly pipped Palace to second place in the U18 Premier League South by a single point last season.

Full details of the fixtures are outlined below.

### Crystal Palace U18s v Liverpool U18s

- Saturday, 2nd September

- CPFC Academy

- 11:00 BST

### Newcastle United U18s v Crystal Palace U18s

- Saturday, 21st October

- Newcastle United Academy

- 10:30 BST

### Crystal Palace U18s v Fulham U18s

- Saturday, 25th November

- CPFC Academy

- 11:00 GMT

*Streaming information will be announced in due course.*

Introduced from the 2017/18 season, the U18 Premier League Cup adds the extra competitive edge of knockout football to complement the U18 Premier League schedule.

The U18 Premier League Cup is split into seven groups of four teams, with clubs playing each other once in the group stage, either home or away.

The seven group winners and the best runner-up, decided by total points and then goal difference followed by head-to-head record, will advance to the quarter-finals.

Palace narrowly missed out on qualification for the quarter-finals last season on goal difference, though they did manage to [beat rivals Brighton & Hove Albion 3-0](https://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/match-reports/crystal-palace-v-brighton-hove-albion-in-the-under-18-premier-league-cup/). Quinn’s side will be aiming to do better and push on to the latter stages of the competition this time around.

Crystal Palace Under-18s will face Liverpool, Newcastle United and Fulham in Group G of the U18 Premier League Cup.

Palace’s U18 Premier League Cup opponents revealed

Newcastle United U18 v Crystal Palace U18 (2023-10-21)

English U18 Premier League CupCrystal Palace Training Ground

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All you need to know about the U18 Premier League Cup

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Crystal Palace U18 6 Liverpool U18 1

English U18 Premier League CupCrystal Palace Training Ground

News & Video

As it Happened

Information

Information

All you need to know about the U18 Premier League Cup

Latest videos

Upcoming palace games

Match Blog

Starting lineup

Substitutes

Starting lineup

Substitutes

Team stats

News & Video

Lineups

Stats

Scores

Blog

Information

Information

All you need to know about the U18 Premier League Cup

Latest videos

Upcoming palace games

Starting lineup

Substitutes

Starting lineup

Substitutes

Team stats

Match Blog