Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and Manchester City started their campaigns in the second phase of the Barclays Under-21 Premier League with home wins in wintery conditions.
Jonathan Obika scored twice in Spurs' convincing 5-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers. The powerful striker was joined on the scoresheet by Andros Townsend, Falque and Thomas Carroll at Tottenham's Traning Centre.
Spurs led 1-0 at the break through Townsend's curling free-kick, and went two-up through Carroll on 66 minutes. Wolves pulled a goal back through a Liam McAlinden back-post header, but Spurs swiftly replied with Obika's first goal. The forward got his second just before the end after a counter-attack and there was time for Falque to add a fifth having taken advantage of a defensive error.
Tottenham report | Wolves report
Dani Pacheco engineered the only goal, on the hour, as Liverpool maintained their unbeaten start to the competition with a 1-0 victory over Southampton at the academy in Kirkby.
The Spaniard's shot after a mazy run was turned into his own net by Jordan Turnbull but Martin Hunter, the Southampton coach, was pleased with his side's performance. "Defensively we were excellent both individually and collectively, but it was a difficult game against a side filled with international players," he said.
Liverpool report | Southampton report
Everton got their Group 1 campaign off to an impressive start as they made light of freezing conditions to overcome Blackburn Rovers with three unanswered goals at Leight Sports Village. With a strong lineup featuring players with first-team experience such as Magaye Gueye, Bryan Oviedo and Apostolos Vellios, the visitors never looked back after Conor McAleny gave them a 26th-minute lead, following a troublesome cross by Oviedo.
The Toffees doubled their advantage three minutes after the interval when Francisco Junior curled a fine right-foot shot beyond Matty Urwin after Rovers had once again failed to clear their lines. It was soon 3-0 when John Lundstram smashed in Tylas Browning's cross to end the match as a contest.
Blackburn report | Everton report
John Guidetti was the standout player in City's 3-1 Group Two win over Reading. The Sweden striker was playing his first match for City in more than 18 months having been on loan to Feyenoord and then injuring a knee. It took him only nine minutes to score and the lead was doubled five minutes later through the Spaniard Jose Angel Pozo.
Guidetti played only the first half as part of his recovery and after the break Reading pressed to halve the deficit, which they eventually did with 15 minutes remaining, Lawson D'Ath with the goal. City's three points looked in danger until Albert Rusnak scored to secure a first victory in the competition for City since 24 August.
Man City report | Reading report.
Two matches due to take place on Monday were hit by the weather. Manchester United's Elite Group match against West Ham United at Altrincham FC was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch, while the fixture between Aston Villa and Middlesbrough was put back a day for similar reasons.
Download full fixture list here
Wednesday 9 January 2013
Elite Group
Arsenal (Santos) 1-1 West Bromwich Albion (Nabi)
Thursday 10 January 2013
Elite Group
Chelsea (Feruz, Baker) 2-0 Fulham
Friday 11 January 2013
Group 2
Stoke City 0-5 Norwich City (Josh Murphy, Jacob Murphy 3, Loza)
Monday 14 January 2013
Elite Group
Tottenham (Townsend, Carroll, Obika 2, Falque) 5-1 Wolves (McAlinden)
Liverpool (Turnbull og) 1-0 Southampton
Manchester United P-P West Ham United POSTPONED
Group 1
Blackburn Rovers 0-3 Everton (McAleny, Francisco Jr, Lundstram)
Group 2
Manchester City (Guidetti, Pozo, Rusnak) 3-1 Reading (D'Ath)
Tuesday 15 January
Group 2
Aston Villa v Middlesbrough, 1pm, Bodymoor Heath TG
To view the league tables after the qualificaton stage, click here
You can follow developments on Twitter with the Premier League's account @premierleague or via the hashtag #BU21PL
