It might be slightly premature to make such claims about a match, but as Bolton visit Stamford Bridge tonight, one thing is clear. As the Premier League season reaches the midway mark, Chelsea’s 19th fixture of the campaign carries more significance and importance than any which has gone before it. Sure, there have been tougher opponents, but with 2010 drawing to an end, Carlo Ancelotti and company must draw on…
OK, so it’s not necessarily just the Arsenal defeat where things have gone wrong recently. One win since mid November – and that merely a late one in a below-par outing against MSK Zilina – has left Blues fans reeling at the club’s worst run of form for over a decade, and has left a number of questions in need of an answer. Is it an issue with squad depth?…
In the continuation of our look at some of the key performers from the first half of this year’s reserve and youth campaign, we taken a look at George Saville. Alongside yesterday’s feature Todd Kane, George is the only other player to have a 100% appearance record in the Under-18 league, and he too has featured in a number of different roles so far. A left-back for much of his…
Part of a young player’s development is understanding and experiencing different positions on the pitch. Many an individual will spend time working on and playing in an unfamiliar role to expand their knowledge of the game, and how another player in the team will see things from ther place. In the first of a series of looks at members of the youth and reserve teams who have performed well in…
In a move which has been rumoured since November, Feyenoord today confirmed that 15 year-old Nathan Aké will join Chelsea next summer. Leo Beenhakker, Technical Director at the De Kuip side, revealed that Nathan had sealed the move, and indeed, despite interest from elsewhere (most notably Manchester City), he only ever had eyes for the Blues. In an interview with Algemeen Dagblad, Beenhakker said: “I talked with Nathan and his…
Somewhere in the region of a dozen schoolboys have featured for Chelsea’s academy team so far this season. Many, if not all of those, will go on to secure scholarships with the club going forward, as they continue their footballing development. For others, however, this time of year will be an uncertain one. Staff at Cobham will be deciding upon who will be offered a two-year academy deal (typically at…
If Chelsea were linked with a nearly 22 year-old international centre-back tomorrow, one suspects the reaction would be a positive one. The player in question has over 100 appearances in club football, is versatile, has impressive size and height, and is currently captain of his club side. It all adds up quite well for a potential signing in a position the club has struggled for depth in so far this…
Forgive the rather obtuse title to this article, for I was unable to come up with something more succinct. If one takes a cursory glance at the Group A standings in the Premier Academy League, Chelsea’s name will be found towards the bottom of the table. Certainly, this is unfamiliar territory for a Blues academy who had challenged at the other end in recent years. However, theirs has thus far…
After a weather-affected first week of December, the loan report returns this week after a near-full calendar of fixtures was fulfilled. Unfortunately, Michael Mancienne was an enforced absentee from a rare and much-needed win for Wolves on Sunday after picking up a knee injury against Blackburn last weekend. The extent of the issue is not yet known, but it was enough to keep him out of contention this time around….
Home comforts have rarely been in evidence at Cobham during the 2010-11 academy season, but in the final league match of the year, Chelsea gave a warming performance to those braving the December weather. A five-star performance crowned by a Billy Clifford hat-trick saw Dermot Drummy’s boys defeat Norwich 5-1 and pick up just a second home win of the campaign. With the fixture falling in between two proposed (and…