Chelsea’s hopes of winning the first ever Barclays Under-21 Premier League Cup were ended on Monday evening as they were knocked out at the Quarter Final stage 1-0 by Arsenal. It took 120 minutes to separate the two London sides in a game fraught with tension and filled with glaring misses, but Benik Afobe’s strike early in the second period of extra time proved enough to edge the result and…
May You Live In Interesting Times
This was originally meant to be the first article of 2014, but was superseded by the news of Juan Mata’s sad departure for Manchester (a transfer which was finally completed yesterday). Chelsea Football Club appear to have sailed into calmer waters during the past six months. The return of Jose Mourinho, replacing the almost universally detested B*n*t*z, has delighted and pacified the supporters, and our outpouring of love for The…
The Loan Report: January 20-26
In the latest instalment of The Loan Report, Patrick Bamford continues to embrace the super-sub role at Derby County, whilst Victor Moses took advantage of a rare start for Liverpool to find the back of the net as both men ensured the unbroken streak of loanees scoring in every week of the 2013-14 season rolls on. Headliners Bamford is yet to start a game for Steve McClaren’s side but has…
Chelsea Court Brunei Boy Bolkiah
As we hit the time of year where many clubs are deciding upon scholarship offers for their 2014-15 intake of Under-18 footballers, it might be considered a quieter one than usual for Chelsea, where many of those moving into Adi Viveash’s group next term have long since been offered terms. However, that’s not to say that the staff at Cobham are resting on their laurels and where opportunities exist, they…
Under-18s: West Ham United 2-0 Chelsea
Chelsea’s Under -18s suffered a rare defeat on Saturday morning as they succumbed to a much superior West Ham side 2-0 away from home.. Early first half goals from Kieran Bywater and Jordan Brown did the damage on a bog of a pitch but despite the conditions, Chelsea never got going and struggled to play their game, perhaps playing as poorly as they have this season. Adi Viveash’s selection was…
The Heart of the Mata
Firstly – an apology for the hiatus in the ramblings of this column, caused by preparing for the Chelsea Supporters Trust Christmas Party, Christmas itself and flu, in that order. Well, not really that order. The flu manifested itself just before Christmas, set in on Christmas Eve and left me with an attack of the horrors on Christmas Night. By Boxing Day I could barely stand up and, as a…
The Loan Report: January 13-19
For the 25th consecutive week of the 2013-14 club football season, at least one Chelsea loan player scored for his temporary club. Sure, superstition typically suggests not to talk about the streak whilst it’s ongoing, but it hasn’t done it any damage thus far and with strikes from Patrick Bamford, Christian Atsu and Patrick van Aanholt this weekend, it’s also in rude health. Headliners We begin with Bamford, who has…
FA Youth Cup: Chelsea 4-1 Sheffield Wednesday
Another lengthy FA Youth Cup run beckons for Chelsea’s youngsters this season as the latest crop booked themselves into Round Five courtesy of a 3-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday at Aldershot’s Electrical Services Stadium. Seventeen year-old forward Isaiah Brown got the Blues off and running with the opener after just two minutes; a goal which set the stage for a display of complete and utter dominance from the home team….
The Loan Report: January 6-12
In the absence of any of the usual faces from the scoresheet this week, it fell to Slovakian Under-21 international Milan Lalkovic to keep the unbroken sequence of at least one Chelsea youngster scoring whilst away on loan this season alive. We begin the latest Loan Report with the Walsall forward. Headliners The past month or so has undoubtedly been Lalkovic’s most productive spell of the campaign to date, with…
Under-18s: Chelsea 2-1 Norwich City
It won’t be remembered as a classic youth team affair but Chelsea’s Under-18s got their 2014 off to a winning start on Saturday morning with a 2-1 victory over Norwich City at Cobham. In a fractious affair in which both sides exhibited all the signs of rustiness borne of three weeks away from the pitch, Dominic Solanke struck twice – his seventh and eight goals in his last three outings…