Indulge me for a moment. Ordinarily, an Arsenal vs Chelsea draw in the League Cup would be a clash of two teams who tend to go about their business in very different manners. Arsene Wenger has typically used the competition to blood generation after generation of well-hyped teenager, whilst Blues managers of the last decade have more often than not fielded stronger teams and, well, actually won it. It’s a…
It proved to be an especially productive return to club football for Chelsea’s young loanees after the international break, with no fewer than five individuals finding the back of the net. They all share the headlines this week, with a pair of Vitesse Arnhem starlets leading the way. Headliners Lucas Piazon and Patrick van Aanholt have been the most successful of the six Chelsea loanees assigned to Vitesse, and they…
Chelsea’s Under 18s suffered just a second defeat of the season on Saturday as they went down 3-2 away to Tottenham Hotspur in a hard-fought London derby. A somewhat depleted young Blues squad started poorly and found themselves two goals behind as Will Miller and Daniel Akindayini netted for the hosts. They worked their way back into contention though and a strike from Chike Kandi gave them hope, but Spurs…
The international break is typically a quieter period down at Chelsea’s Cobham training ground, and the downtime not only allows the club’s younger players to train with those few seniors not jetting off to represent their countries (and in turn Dermot Drummy taking charge of training sessions), but also for the club as a whole to offer an introspective into how things are progressing in the academy. In addition to…
We’re not quite a quarter of the way through the 2013-14 season but the international break provides a timely interlude to take a retrospective of Chelsea’s impressive start to affairs at youth level. A series of strong displays from both the Under-21 and Under-18 teams have caught the eye, whilst the UEFA Youth League has resulted in a pair of 4-0 victories, and even the next fledgling generation of schoolboys…
The FIFA Under-17 World Cup has long since been a proving ground for the stars of tomorrow, and this year’s tournament – which gets underway in the United Arab Emirates next week – will feature three young Chelsea academy players. The tournament’s official squad lists have confirmed that Swedish pair Isak Ssewankambo and Ali Suljic are a part of the Blågult squad, whilst Habib Makanjuola will represent Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets….
The usual suspects were up to their old tricks once again this week on the loan front as Patrick Bamford and Romelu Lukaku both found the back of the net once again, whilst Croatian forward Stipe Perica got in on the act. On a sour note, there was a rather harsh red card for Nathaniel Chalobah, but it was a small smudge on an otherwise excellent picture of the past…
Chelsea’s Under-21s recorded their fourth win of the season on Sunday morning with a 2-1 victory over Manchester City courtesy of first half goals from John Swift and Andreas Christensen. It was hardly a vintage performance from either side but in much the same way that the Under-18s did so 24 hours earlier, the Blues took their chances in the first half and did just enough over the course of…
It continues to rain goals for Chelsea’s Under-18s as they racked up another three of them in a comfortable 3-1 win over Southampton at Cobham on Saturday morning. The damage was done in the first half as Kasey Palmer, Ambrose Gnahore and Dominic Solanke each found the back of the net and whilst there was no addition to their tally beyond that, the win was a deserved one and took…
Chelsea’s Under-19s made it two wins from two in their UEFA Youth League campaign with a very, very comfortable 4-0 victory over Steaua Bucharest in wet Romania on Tuesday afternoon. John Swift and Alex Kiwomya each scored twice to hand Dermot Drummy’s side a second successive victory by the same margin, having previously despatched of Basel on matchday one. The Swiss were hardly a threatening outfit at Cobham but in…