Youth & Reserves

For the second year in a row, Chelsea left Nyon empty-handed, their pursuit of a third UEFA Youth League title unsuccessful at the last. The bitter disappointment of last year’s capitulation to Barcelona will fade into exhausted regret this time around. Twelve months ago, they didn’t do themselves justice, and they knew it. This season, they will themselves to the Final again, leading for just nine minutes of knockout round…

“We came here to get our trophy back.” Amid the euphoria of Friday’s dramatic penalty shootout triumph against Barcelona, Chelsea Under-19 coach Joe Edwards reminded his players of their purpose in Nyon, Switzerland. Yes, there was an undercurrent of revenge about the Semi Final after losing a Final to the same opponents a year earlier, but more than that, this was about restoring their own glory. To quickly recount the…

Chelsea’s recent seasons have typically ended in a blaze of glory but, on an unseasonably windy day in Berkshire, they brought the curtain down on a campaign of learning with more than a hint towards the promise of the future. They might have finished without silverware for the first time in more than half a decade, but as Dion Rankine and Lewis Bate scored the goals to see them defeat…

In the brand-spanking-new trophy cabinet in Chelsea’s Cobham academy building, two Lennart Johansson Trophies take pride of place on the top shelf. There is space for a third to sit between them but, instead, a forlorn runners-up plaque lurks almost embarrassingly behind them, as if trying to hide itself among so much success. The Blues head to Nyon in Switzerland this weekend for the fourth time in five years hoping…

A year ago this week, Chelsea’s Development Squad suffered a 2-1 defeat at home to Tottenham Hotspur in a performance that did not augur well ahead of preparations for their trip to Switzerland for the UEFA Youth League Finals weekend. Then, having scraped past FC Porto on penalties and after an 87th-minute equaliser, they were taken apart by Barcelona in the Final, and were left to rue their poor form…

Fortress Cobham hasn’t quite been as impenetrable this season as in previous campaigns, but Chelsea signed off their home schedule for 2018-19 with a 4-3 win over Fulham that was more impressive than the final scoreline suggested, and ensured that they will finish third behind Arsenal and Tottenham in the Under-18 Premier League South table. In a wide-open contest that encouraged both teams to attack, the score could easily have…

For a season at least, Chelsea have had to surrender their title as the undisputed Kings of the Under-18 Premier League South. Whether it’s Arsenal or Tottenham who official dethrone them at the end of the month, it will be entirely on merit, as Spurs showed with a battling but ultimately comfortable 2-0 win at Cobham on Wednesday lunchtime. Follow Dan Davies for photos from the match. The North London…