Month: April 2014

Chelsea pulled the curtain down on another Under-18 league season on Tuesday with a defeat to Tottenham which although unfortunate on the scoreboard more than offered plenty of excitement for seasons to come. A hectic schedule involving the FA Youth Cup and Under-21 league playoffs has meant that the final weeks of the campaign at this level have been turned over to the next generation of youngsters coming through the…

The first ever West London FA Youth Cup Final sits finely poised halfway through the two legs as Fulham drew first blood with a 3-2 victory at Craven Cottage on Monday night. Five goals in a frenetic second half half-hour saw the hosts edge themselves ahead in the tie but on a breathless evening the score could easily have been both higher and in Chelsea’s favour, but things as they…

For a third successive season, Chelsea find themselves in the FA Youth Cup Final; the showpiece occasion in English academy football. It’s a run unprecedented in the modern era with no team having reached three finals on the bounce since Manchester United ran roughshod over all comers in the fledgling days of the competition in the 1950s. Many fine teams have come along and occasionally featured twice but the Blues…

Chelsea’s Under-18s lost 4-0 at home to Manchester City on Saturday in a fixture which was played out at that level in name only as the Blues fielded a squad of Under-15 and Under-16 players. Due to Monday’s FA Youth Cup appointment away to Fulham, all potential inclusions in Adi Viveash’s squad for that game were rested and so it fell on his assistant Joe Edwards to lead as young…

Chelsea will go into the Barclays Under-21 Premier League playoffs as the top seed and finish the regular season at the top of the standings courtesy of a 2-1 victory over Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday evening. The Gunners went ahead in the first half as Hector Bellerin edged the hosts into a deserved lead but the Blues responded better as the game went on and goals from…

One of the more common sub-plots to Chelsea’s season has been their prolific activity on the loan front. With more than thirty players away at other clubs, their largesse in the outgoing temporary market has attracted considerable attention; not least because it’s unheard of within English football. As the Blues’ title challenge faltered with a lack of top quality striking options, critics have been quick to point out the folly…

Chelsea secured a place in the Barclays Under-21 Premier League Semi Finals on Saturday afternoon with a 4-2 victory over West Bromwich Albion at Cobham. The Blues made sure of a top four finish and a shot at the national title with a well-earned triumph despite twice having been pegged back from ahead. Isaiah Brown opened the scoring early on against his former club and Lewis Baker kept the hosts…