Austria beat Estonia 2-0 with a goal in each half. In his first competitive appearance for his nation, Thierno Ballo came off the bench to play the last seven minutes at SV Reid’s stadium. The win sees Austria take the top spot early on in the qualifiers with their next fixture against Croatia scheduled for 15 November.

At Under-18 level, Bryan Fiabmea played 45 minutes as Norway fell to a second defeat against Portugal. Leo Fuhr Hjelde of Celtic gave the Norwegians the lead on the stroke of half-time but a Portuguese double sunk the hopes of a win for Fiabema’s side.

Elsewhere in the Academy, Josh Tobin recently signed his first professional contract with the club and Dion Rankine agreed a deal to extend his stay at Chelsea. The new contracts will mean they both remain Blues until at least June 2023.

Meanwhile, development squad defender Pierre Ekwah-Elimby has departed the club and joined West Ham. The Frenchman arrived at Chelsea in the summer of 2018 from Nantes and appeared for our Under-18s and 23s, signing his first professional contract in January 2019. We would like to thank Pierre for his contribution and wish him well for the future.