Month: October 2013

Indulge me for a moment. Ordinarily, an Arsenal vs Chelsea draw in the League Cup would be a clash of two teams who tend to go about their business in very different manners. Arsene Wenger has typically used the competition to blood generation after generation of well-hyped teenager, whilst Blues managers of the last decade have more often than not fielded stronger teams and, well, actually won it. It’s a…

Chelsea’s Under 18s suffered just a second defeat of the season on Saturday as they went down 3-2 away to Tottenham Hotspur in a hard-fought London derby. A somewhat depleted young Blues squad started poorly and found themselves two goals behind as Will Miller and Daniel Akindayini netted for the hosts. They worked their way back into contention though and a strike from Chike Kandi gave them hope, but Spurs…

The international break is typically a quieter period down at Chelsea’s Cobham training ground, and the downtime not only allows the club’s younger players to train with those few seniors not jetting off to represent their countries (and in turn Dermot Drummy taking charge of training sessions), but also for the club as a whole to offer an introspective into how things are progressing in the academy. In addition to…

We’re not quite a quarter of the way through the 2013-14 season but the international break provides a timely interlude to take a retrospective of Chelsea’s impressive start to affairs at youth level. A series of strong displays from both the Under-21 and Under-18 teams have caught the eye, whilst the UEFA Youth League has resulted in a pair of 4-0 victories, and even the next fledgling generation of schoolboys…

The FIFA Under-17 World Cup has long since been a proving ground for the stars of tomorrow, and this year’s tournament – which gets underway in the United Arab Emirates next week – will feature three young Chelsea academy players. The tournament’s official squad lists have confirmed that Swedish pair Isak Ssewankambo and Ali Suljic are a part of the Blågult squad, whilst Habib Makanjuola will represent Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets….

Chelsea’s Under-21s recorded their fourth win of the season on Sunday morning with a 2-1 victory over Manchester City courtesy of first half goals from John Swift and Andreas Christensen. It was hardly a vintage performance from either side but in much the same way that the Under-18s did so 24 hours earlier, the Blues took their chances in the first half and did just enough over the course of…