Youth & Reserves

Chelsea secured their first Reserve League crown since 1994 on Monday night with a comfortable 3-0 win against Wolves and set up a showpiece final against Manchester United or Blackburn, to be played next Monday at Stamford Bridge. Goals from George Saville, Adam Phillip and Gokhan Tore ensured the Blues picked up the three points they needed to usurp Arsenal from Group C’s summit, and in truth they could have…

Chelsea ended their 2010-11 home academy campaign with their youngest team of the season, and despite a spirited performance went down to an older, stronger and better West Ham team 4-1 at Cobham. Elliott Lee grabbed a hat-trick for the Hammers whilst Robert Hall added a first half penalty. Walter Figueira scored a late consolation for the Blues, who had chances throughout. Dermot Drummy named eight schoolboys in his starting…

A four-goal hammering by Manchester City on Thursday night means Chelsea’s quest for Reserve League glory goes down to the final game of the season. Strikes from John Guidetti, Abdi Ibrahim, Harry Bunn and James Poole ensured a comprehensive win for City on a night where Chelsea were far from their best. Steve Holland was able to keep the majority of his squad together from last week’s victory over Aston…

A bright opening spell from Chelsea’s Reserve team saw them score two goals which proved to be enough for a hard-fought three points against Aston Villa. The win puts the Blues into outright second place in the Southern league table and keeps them as favourites to claim top spot. An early own goal was followed by a fine strike by Adam Phillip, and whilst Samir Carruthers pulled one back, Chelsea…

One of the hardest tasks for any manager is to decide when to assimilate young talent into their first team squad. Under enough pressure to succeed in the first place, they often face a clamour from supporters to bring through the next generation and ensure that those not performing to first-team standards are kept on their toes. Some clubs face the need to vindicate investment in their youth development programme,…

Chelsea’s youngest reserve team of the team, featuring something of a ramshackle defensive unit and three schoolboys in total on the night, went down to a ruthless and impressive Manchester United team in Monday night action. Two first half goals from Joshua King were responded to by a header from Archange Nkumu, but second half tallies from Gabriel Obertan and Bebe put an emphatic seal on affairs. With the entire…