Wigan Athletic vs Nottingham Forest U21 | EFL Trophy Preview
Shaun Maloney's Tics take on Warren Joyce's Forest U21s in the final group stage game of this EFL Trophy campaign. The winner will progress to the next round.
Part One | An overview of our opponents. 🔎
Part Two | “Who to Watch” players. 👓
Part Three | What can we expect from this game? 🏟️
On Tuesday night, under the lights of the Brick Community Stadium, Wigan Athletic host Warren Joyce’s Nottingham Forest U21s in the final EFL Trophy group stage game.
The meaning of the result is simple. The winner will advance to the knockout stages, while the loser is eliminated regardless of whether the tie is won in the ninety minutes or on penalties.
Let’s see what we can expect from this game 👇
Nottingham Forest U21
Nottingham Forest are excelling in the Premier League this season, sitting 5th after 11 games and tied on 19 points with Chelsea and Arsenal. The former back-to-back European Cup winners enjoyed plenty of success throughout the 70s and 80s, but after tumbling down the leagues to end up in the third tier in the mid-2000s, Forest have built themselves back up to become a force again in the top division.
A major part of this rebuild has been the forming of their Youth Academy in 1997, which has produced a wealth of exciting talents with many stepping up into first-team and international settings, such as; Matty Cash, Brennan Johnson, Ben Brereton Diaz, Patrick Bamford, Jamaal Lascelles, and many more.
The Athletic stated in an April 2023 article that over the last six years, the Academy “has been worth in the region of £100million ($124m) to Nottingham Forest”, largely through homegrown player sales.
The Academy was set up by former defender, Paul Hart - who notably played 143 games for Blackpool and 191 for Leeds United, alongside spells at Stockport County, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday, and Notts County - during his second spell as a Forest Youth Manager.
In May 2021, the Academy - which was renamed in 2012 to ‘The Nigel Doughty Academy’ in memory of their former owner - was upgraded to Category One status, allowing Forest to compete in the Premier League 2 and top youth cup competitions.
“It is an elite environment where Academy Players are provided with additional access to coaching and the potential of full time education from U12. Category One Academies can recruit nationally from U14 provided the Academy Player is guaranteed access to a full time education programme.”
The EFL’s Definition of a Category One Academy
In their debut Premier League 2 campaign, Forest U21s finished 4th of 15 teams and climbed to 3rd in the next season.
Warren Joyce, who was announced as Lead Coach of Forest U18s in July 2021, earned a promotion to manage the U21s in December 2022 after leading the teenagers to an FA Youth Cup final against Manchester United - losing 3-1 on the night to a late Alejandro Garnacho brace. In the first few months under his reign, Joyce led the U21s to the semi-final of the Premier League cup, before losing 6-1 to Blackburn Rovers.
Last season, the Premier League 2 structure changed to become a 26 team single division, and Forest finished 14th to show that they had become an established club at youth level. In the Premier League Cup, Joyce’s side topped the group stage with a five point gap to Fleetwood Town after the six games, and achieved another semi-final after beating Sunderland and Sheffield United. Forest lost 4-3 to Tottenham Hotspur, but their is clearly a level of consistency in their achievements developing.
Forest U21s made their debut in the Premier League International Cup last season, which features twelve academy sides from England and twelve from other European countries. Joyce’s side were victorious against Nice and Sparta Prague, but lost to PSV Eindhoven and Hertha Berlin meaning they did not qualify for the knockout stage.
Alongside making their debut in the PL International Cup, Forest were invited to compete in the EFL Trophy for the first time. They were drawn in a group against Accrington Stanley, Carlisle United, and Harrogate Town, finishing second to progress to the knockout stage. However, Doncaster Rovers won 3-0 at home in the Round of 32 to end Forest’s run.
This season, Forest are 12th in the Premier League 2 with 4 wins and 4 losses to their name so far. Joyce has also led his side to victories over Leicester City, Coventry City, and Hull City in the first round of fixtures in the Premier League Cup group stage. In the PL International Cup, Forest have beaten Dinamo Zagreb 3-1 and lost 1-0 to leaders Valencia, with games against Ajax and Monaco scheduled before Christmas.
Forest will also compete in Group D of the National League Cup, but are yet to play a game. They will play Dagenham and Redbridge, Braintree, Sutton United, and Ebbsfleet before the end of January.
In this latest EFL Trophy campaign, Nottingham Forest U21s are third after a 2-1 victory over Carlisle United and a 4-2 loss against Morecambe puts them on three points from two games. For Forest to progress to the knockout stages, they must get a victory over Wigan Athletic. The winner could finish top of the table if Carlisle United beat Morecambe and there is a swing in the goal difference.
Nottingham Forest U21s Last 5 Results
Leicester City U21s 1 - 2 Forest U21s | Premier League Cup
⚽ Goals: Own Goal (30’), Jack Thompson (78’)
Forest U21s 2 - 0 Coventry City U21s | Premier League Cup
⚽ Goals: Archie Whitehall (47’), Kristian Fletcher (66’)
Forest U21s 0-1 Leeds United U21s | Premier League 2
Middlesbrough 1 - 4 Forest U21s | Premier League 2
⚽ Goals: Jimmy Sinclair (2’), Jack Nadin (7’, 34’), Joe Gardner (15’)
Forest U21s 5 - 1 Hull City U21s | Premier League Cup
⚽ Goals: Ben Hammond (13’), Kyle McAdam (20’), Jack Nadin (22’, 47’), Joe Gardner (23’)
Warren Joyce appears to have formed an exciting Under 21s side, and three names have stood out to me while researching them.
Joe Gardner (#53, Forward, Age: 19)
Gardner has started in both of the EFL Trophy games so far, and is likely to be called into action again at the Brick on Tuesday night. The forward has four goals and three assists in all competitions so far this season, with a goal and two assists in the most recent game against Hull City. The 19-year-old also scored the opener in the EFL Trophy game against Carlisle United on September 3rd.
Jack Nadin (#66, Attacking Midfielder, Age: 20)
Forest’s most in form goalscorer at the moment is 20-year-old attacking midfielder, Jack Nadin. After scoring against Wolves in August, and Dinamo Zagreb in September, Nadin has got a brace in each of the last two games as well as an assist last time out. Like Gardner, Nadin has started in both of the EFL Trophy games and is likely to be picked by Joyce to face Wigan in this form.
Jimmy Sinclair (#76, Right Winger, Age: 18)
After starting out initially as a right back, Sinclair has moved up the field to take on more of a right winger role, with Fin Back playing a deeper role. In the Premier League 2, Sinclair has three goals so far, and assisted the opening goal against Morecambe in the EFL Trophy. Joyce’s system looks to use Sinclair on the right, Nadin on the left, and Gardner up top.
First things first, I expect this to be a very different game to our EFL Trophy fixture against Leicester City U21s last September. Our team in that game was:
👕 Starting XI: Sam Tickle, Scott Smith, Charlie Hughes, Liam Morrison, Kell Watts, James Balagizi, Liam Shaw, Jonny Smith, Callum Lang, Jordan Jones, Josh Magennis
🔄 Used Subs: Harry McHugh (Morrison), Cal McManaman (J Smith), Chris Sze (Lang), Josh Stones (Magennis)
Last season, Leicester finished 8 points below Forest in the 20 game Premier League 2 season, and after going 1-0 up at the DW they lost 7-1 in the end with goals from Lang, McHugh, Sze, Stones, and a Magennis hattrick.
Forest are not only going up against the top English academies, but are also in their second season of taking on international academies where they have won three and lost three in the PL International Cup. They are a competent side, and will most likely offer more of a threat and show more of an overall ability than Leicester did.
The jeopardy on this game is that if Wigan Athletic fail to win either in the ninety or on penalties, we are out of the EFL Trophy. If Latics can win in the ninety to secure the full three points, and Carlisle United beat Morecambe, we can finish top of the table if our goal difference becomes better than the Shrimps.
This is a competition that we have a very realistic chance of progressing to Wembley in, and Shaun Maloney has spoken about his desire to take these games very seriously.
I would like to see some rotation in the squad as I feel like this is a good time to hand starts to players in need of one again, such as; Steven Sessegnon, James Carragher, Baba Adeeko, Joe Hugill, and our latest signing, Paul Dummett.
Chris Sze is likely to return to the matchday squad after a prolonged period out of the fold, and Maleace Asamoah is certain to get more minutes under his belt after looking lively in the latter stages of the Wycombe Wanderers game.
A couple of things to note is that Dale Taylor cannot play in this game due to his parent club being Nottingham Forest, and Jensen Weir cannot play due to being cuptied after featuring for Brighton U21s in their game against Crawley Town.
👕 Starting XI Prediction: Tickle, Sessegnon, Carragher, Aimson, Dummett, M Smith, Adeeko, Rankine, Aasgaard, Olakigbe, Hugill
⚽ Score Prediction: Wigan Athletic 4 - 0 Nottingham Forest U21s
Up the Tics 🔵⚪️
🙌 Thank you for reading!
✍🏼 Charlie Keegan / Central Wigan
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