Aston Villa Under-18s go in search of a sixth straight Premier League South win against Fulham on Saturday.
After maintaining their 100% record with a 2-0 victory on the road against Tottenham Hotspur last weekend, Sean Verity’s team return to Bodymoor Heath looking to extend their lead at the top of the table.
U18s Lead Coach Verity is wary of the threat seventh place Fulham will pose.
He said: “Fulham always produce teams that have really good players. They’re an academy that always produces players for their first team.
“Whichever side Fulham put out will cause us problems. Some people might think that Fuham aren’t as good as Spurs who we played last week, but that’s not how it is in under-18s football.
“You never know from one week to the next what you’re getting, but what you do know with Fulham is they’ll have individuals in there that will cause us some problems if we let them.”
While Villa are picking up results and flying high in the table, Verity knows that the players’ development is equally important.
And with a strong pathway in place through to the Under-23 squad, he hopes to see a number of his team feature for Mark Delaney’s side.
Verity said: “We just want to keep the lads going forward, in terms of their development. At some stage we’d hope some of the second years will play for the Under-23s.
“That would allow some of the younger first year lads to come into the team. Then it’s about trying to maintain that development, which might not be the results but the philosophy of how Mark Harrison (Academy Manager) wants the Academy teams to play.”
