Chelsea’s Under-18 team have been arguably the nation’s best so far this season, with a berth amongst the Elite Eight confirmed well before the Christmas break.
Now, with the new year well and truly here, they know who they’ll be facing and when they’ll be doing so. They have a tough opponent on the slate every single week but it’s exactly what they wanted; the most competitive games programme possible.
They begin next weekend away to Southampton before welcoming Bolton Wanderers to Cobham for the first time. There are a handful of new faces amongst their opposition, whilst a welcome return to others like the Saints. There are also fixtures against Crystal Palace and Fulham, who joined them in progressing from Group C in the first half of the season.
The full fixture list is as follows:
Saturday 12th January – Southampton (Away), 11am
Saturday 19th January – Bolton Wanderers (Home), 11am
Saturday 26th January – Everton (Away), 1.30pm
Saturday 2nd February – Manchester United (Home), 11am
Saturday 9th February – Crystal Palace (Away), 11am
Saturday 16th February – Reading (Home), 11am
Saturday 23rd February – Fulham (Away), 11am
Saturday 2nd March – Southampton (Home), 11am
Saturday 9th March – Bolton Wanderers (Away), 1.30pm
Saturday 16th March – Everton (Home), 11am
Saturday 23rd March – week off
Saturday 30th March – Crystal Palace (Home), 11am
Saturday 6th April – Manchester United (Away), 1.30pm
Saturday 13th April – Reading (Away), 11am
Saturday 20th April – Fulham (Home), 11am
Should they then progress through this group, the national playoffs, Semi Final and Final will take place throughout May.
The Under-21 team, meanwhile, will have their fixtures published on Monday. They will face Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Everton, Fulham, Middlesbrough and Sunderland in Tier One of the Professional Development League.