Ben Wilkinson‘s side were runaway winners of the Northern section, finishing ten points ahead of second placed Liverpool.
We were crowned National champions for the third year in a row thanks to a 2-1 victory over Southern winners Southampton at St Mary’s Stadium earlier this month.
That was the second of three Premier League titles for the Club this season to be confirmed.
The EDS sealed the Premier League 2 title in April while last week’s dramatic finale to the men’s Premier League season ended with victory for Pep Guardiola‘s side.
Rico Lewis was named Player of the Year for the Under-18s while Adedire Mebude took Players’ Player and goalkeeper Josh McNamara won Scholar of the Year.
Here we’ll take a look at all the key statistics that made it another memorable year in the league for our Under-18s.
WIN PERCENTAGE
City won 20 of our 27 matches in the league this year, totalling 57 of our 61 points in the regional stage before that final victory over the Saints.
That means that in the league this season, City won 74% of our matches.
GOAL DIFFERENCE
City amassed a staggering goal difference of +62 across our 27 matches in the Under-18 Premier League this season.
We scored 89 goals in that time, conceding just 27.
As well as hammering Newcastle United 13-0, we also scored eight against Leeds United, thirteen across two matches against Derby County and six in our final regional match at Sunderland.
GALLERY | City’s national title win!
Against our biggest rivals for the title, City beat United 8-1 if both matches were tallied up while our record against Liverpool included 1-0 and 3-1 wins.
MOST GOALS
As you’d expect with City teams of any age group, it was a team effort in terms of converting our chances.
Carlos Borges, who spent time with the EDS too, and Adedire Mebude both got 11 goals with Luca Barrington and Will Dickson on ten each.
Liverpool’s Oakley Cannonier led the way for the league with 28 strikes.
MOST ASSISTS
This is where Mebude far outshone anyone else in the league, registering 18 assists for his team-mates.
Next, in City’s rankings and across the league, was midfielder Josh Adam with nine.
Wilcox and Guardiola pay tribute to Under-18s
Luca Barrington (seven) and Daniel Ogwuru (six) are both also positioned favourably against counterparts from other clubs.
passes completed
City’s total number of passes - 15,650 - was almost 5,000 more than the next best side in this metric, Liverpool.
They made 10,862 linkups while Manchester United were the only other team in the country to go beyond 10,000.
Our total touches of the ball across the team was 22,462. Again almost 5,000 ahead of Liverpool (17,840).
TACKLES AND SAVES
As you may expect for a team with such dominance of the ball, City ranked 25th of the 28 sides for number of tackles made.
Our total was 445, only ahead of Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and Liverpool. Southampton were top with 688.
City’s goalkeepers were the third least busy in the league, making 61 saves - only more than West Ham (59) and Arsenal (58). Aston Villa’s goalkeepers 136 saves across their fixtures, the most in the league.
MOST APPEARANCES
No City player was an ever-present, however midfield man Josh Adam did play 25 times out of a possible 27.
LONGEST WINNING RUN
City hit our straps in the second half of the season, winning 15 of our last 17 Premier League games to seal both the regional and national titles.
We first won eight matches back-to-back in January, February and March to create a gap between us and the chasing pack.
Then after a defeat to Nottingham Forest and a draw with Middlesbrough, the pressure was on at the end of the season. Ben Wilkinson‘s team responded by winning the final six.
LONGEST UNBEATEN RUN
That eight victories in a row was tied as our longest unbeaten run, with the seven victories and one draw on the other side of the Forest defeat to match it.
Our three losses were well spread out across the season, with another run of seven unbeaten coming between late September and early December.
