Man City seal U18 Premier League title after Liverpool FC lose to continue academy clean sweep

It's a scenario that Manchester City fans wouldn't complain about in the Premier League title race — Liverpool dropping points to crown the Blues champions without even playing.

Both sides may be going neck-and-neck in the top flight, but in the U18 Premier League, it's City who have edged out Liverpool for the title with three games left. City beat Liverpool a fortnight ago to move closer to the title, and after their statement 7-1 win at the weekend, Liverpool had to win to delay the Blues' coronation. However, their 1-0 home defeat to Nottingham Forest on Tuesday has sealed the North Division for City.

Ben Wilkinson's side have now successfully retained their regional title won last year, and will progress to a one-off national final to be crowned U18 Premier League champion.

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Last season, the youngsters ran riot against Fulham in the National final to join the senior team and U23 side in winning their divisions, and now a double-treble of Premier League titles remains on offer after this latest success. Pep Guardiola's side are leading the Premier League, while Brian Barry-Murphy's EDS team secured their title on Friday at Leeds. City's under-17s also won the U17 Premier League Cup this season.

City have now won five of the last seven U18 Premier League North titles, with an impressive 16 wins so far this season from 23 games played, scoring 65 goals. Dire Mebude has been the top scorer with ten goals and 12 assists so far, with Luca Barrington, Dan Ogwuru, Will Dickson and Josh Adam also chipping in.

Carlos Borges has five goals and four assists when dropping down from U23 level, while Kian Breckin has also played at the higher