In the first of our new regular feature, we catch up with the reserves and Academy and find out what has been going on behind the scenes at Cobham.

The spotlight on the first team is as bright as ever, and our start to the season has drawn plaudits from all corners, yet the work done with our stars of the future behind the scenes at the training ground is not to be ignored.

Therefore, we now have a feature that will keep you up to date with our development teams, with regular interviews with those involved and those making it happen.

Youth team coach Paul Clement and reserve team manager Brendan Rodgers have set the ball rolling, discussing their sides' start to the season and what we can look forward to in the coming weeks.

The reserves have won their first three league games, as well as taking part in some prestigious friendly fixtures against Manchester United, Liverpool and AC Milan. Brendan explains the thinking.

'The idea was to challenge our young players. We only have 16 actual league games and so wanted to play additional friendly games,' he begins.

'It is good to go into Europe and play international clubs, testing our players against the best young players in the world. Our scouting department used their contacts to ask the question and see if they are interested, and the clubs came back, so we have made a start on that, and will play Liverpool and Manchester United again.

'The boys have responded very well, no matter what they have on their CV in their future career, it is still good to have played against AC Milan. Some of the senior players haven't played against sides like that, so it's something to enjoy and remember.'

A 4-0 victory against the Italians, mirroring some of the footballing style seen by Luiz Felipe Scolari's men, will certainly live long in the memory, particularly for Fabio Borini, who scored the team's second against his countrymen.

Clement has been impressed with how striker Fabio has developed his game in recent months, contributing a hat-trick in a 7-2 youth win against Ipswich, before adding two more for the reserves against Portsmouth.

'What we do is about the individual development of players and we have seen good progress from the youth team players already up with Brendan in the reserves,' he explains.

'Borini is scoring regularly at both youth and reserve level, and that's ultimately what it is about - I'm very happy to see it.'

There are other players too that have made the step from youth to reserves, an important transition.

'The likes of winger Gael Kakuta, midfielder Jacob Mellis, and centre-half Jeffrey Bruma have done well, and pleasingly goalkeeper Nick Heimann is involved a lot at that level now,' he adds. 'Worth another mention is Josh McEachran, a schoolboy who trains three days a week with us, plays regularly in the youth team and recently captained England under 16s, so he is making nice progress.'

Looking at his side's performances since the start of the season, Clement reports mixed feelings.

'Our performances as a team, which isn't the ultimate at our level, have been up and down. We've played very well in games and got nothing out of it in terms of result, but lots from the way we approached the game.

'The game that stands out there is Newcastle away, where we were taught a cruel lesson in football, if you don't score your chances you can be beaten by a team who have performed not as well as you.

'We have shown we have the ability to be free-scoring, seven goals against Ipswich, four against Reading, and in other games we will look like a different team, going to Bristol City and were very disappointingly outfought, something we addressed sternly afterwards. You should never be outfought in football.'

The topic of Academies has been in the news this week, with both Bruce Buck and Frank Arnesen discussing the financial implications of having to buy in top talent, as clubs begin to focus more on developing their own.

At Cobham, the club recently opened its new Academy and Community building, and both Brendan and Paul are hoping it begins to pay dividends.

'Moving to the new facility has been a big part of the season, it's just a fantastic place to work out of, and we don't go without anything, given the very best opportunity to work with these good players that we have got,' says Clement.

'A building like that and the pitches of that quality really allows you to stretch yourself and get the best from these players. We are really enjoying it and making the most of what we have here.

'To get boys into the first team is why we come here and work so hard every day. It is always difficult to say how many will come through to the first team, you may have a year with slightly more than that and another without anybody.

'We have some really good players at the moment and with international football the boys play and some going out on loan it helps to bridge that gap between reserves and first team. The England Under 21s have three Chelsea players, and hopefully some of these are going to start getting very close. Then there are some 17, 18 year olds doing very well, but we will have to wait and see.'

One of those youngsters he refers to is Sam Hutchinson, included on the 2007 summer tour to America, he missed 11 months with a knee injury but has now battled back to fitness.

It is a return welcomed by Rodgers.

'I am delighted to see him back, he's a player who has worked exceptionally hard to get back and now he just needs the training, games and work to get on track,' he says. 'The medical team have done fantastically with Hutch and his attitude is superb, he is a good example to players here.'

Coming up for the reserves is a league game with Aston Villa on Monday evening, while the youth team host Southampton this morning at Cobham.

Catch up with that result later on chelseafc.com, and come back soon to find out more from what has been going on.