Albion Under-21s will hope to start 2026 with a win as they travel to Arsenal on Friday night (ko 7pm).
The Baggies ended 2025 with plenty of positive showings in the Premier League Cup, ensuring top spot in Group E, and their place in the round-of-16 with wins over Exeter City and Luton Town.
Friday’s encounter sees Leigh Downing’s young charges take to PL2 action for the first time since early November, where they’ve claimed six points so far in 2025/26.
Last time out
Albion’s academy stars were beaten 3-0 by Everton at Damson Park in their most recent PL2 game.
Downing’s side were undone by a trio of strikes by the Toffees, as they fell to their first defeat in four league matches in Solihull.
Venue
The Mangata Developments Stadium Meadow Park, home of Boreham Wood and Arsenal U21s - will host Friday’s PL2 clash.
It’s the second time that the young Baggies have travelled to the Hertfordshire-based stadium, having lost 3-1 to a senior Boreham Wood side in the National League Cup in September.
Pre-match thoughts
U21s boss Leigh Downing says his side have enjoyed a “good little break” from their usual rigorous preparations during the Christmas period.
After clocking up the miles, and the minutes on the pitch prior to the turn on the year, particularly in the Premier League Cup, the young Baggies are ready to go again. There they secured top spot in Group E, and in turn, a place in the knockout stages – a perfect end to the calendar year.
With junctures in mind, having had involvements in three other cup competitions, Downing’s side haven’t played a PL2 game since November 7, and he’s called for his side to “step up in the league” ahead of Friday’s match.
He said: “The lads have had a good little break. It’s been a bit of a mixed one for the group, because you’ve got lads who have needed to come in and help the first team, which has been a busy period for them.
“Some of the lads have managed to have some time off to rest, recover and tick over with their Christmas programme. We’ve had some days of training between Christmas and New Year, then back in fully on January 2 – normal service has now resumed.
“When I first took over, the lads had played one game against Brighton and then we had a run of games when it was quite challenging. We had a lot of big clubs in Tottenham and Crystal Palace, teams that had done pretty well in the competition last year.
“We were competitive in terms of the performances, but the results didn’t quite reflect that and they didn’t go our way. We’re looking to try and improve on that when the games start back up.
“We’re going to try and pick up as many points as possible, because we want to try and get into the top 16 to give us the opportunity to play in the Premier League International Cup again. Some of the younger lads have also done really well in their U18s games programme, so we want to also try to reward that, but ensure we get some results that help us add to our points tally.
“The lads are in a really good place. Physically, technically and tactically, they’re understanding what we want with and without the ball.
“They need to build on their performances. The cup games have been and gone now, so it’s time to step up in the league.
“We’ve gone from different experiences playing in the cup by playing against B-teams, which are a mix of first-team players and young players. Whereas now we go up against Premier League sides with a lot of quality, and the challenge is to replicate the performances of that competition in the PL2.”
How to follow
There will be updates across our social media channels for Friday evening’s PL2 match against Arsenal.
The full report, reaction and highlights from the match will be available on the website after the game.
