Our young Blues produced an entertaining performance last weekend at Rush Green and secured a 3-2 victory.

Sol Gordon netted his fourth goal of the campaign with a chipped effort over the keeper to bring us level; Chizaram Ezenwata finished from close range after Leo Cardoso's second-half shot was saved; Ollie Harrison scored the winner from the penalty spot late on.

And Sulaiman, who leads the Under-18s team, was impressed with his squad’s resilience and technical football, both in attack and defence.

'I wouldn’t say we started the better of the two teams,' Sulaiman said. 'West Ham established control early on, so we had to ensure we defended well.

'We’ve worked a lot on our one-v-ones, defending as a unit, and covering the space behind. The boys did really well to counter some of West Ham’s attacking threats.

'We didn’t manage that as well as I liked in the early part of the game, which is why West Ham had a bit of a hold. We went 1-0 down but we brought it back to 1-1.

'It was a good pass from Hudson Sands, really direct, to Sol [Gordon]. In our analysis, we saw how aggressive West Ham are on the press, and we knew we had to vary our play, sometimes going more direct to bypass their press and exploit the space behind them.

'Then we went 2-1 up through Chizaram [Ezenwata]. Leo [Cardoso] had a left-footed shot from the edge of the area that the goalkeeper parried, and Chizzy followed up the rebound to put us in front.

'At that point, we applied even more pressure on West Ham and were unfortunate not to get a third. You could say control shifted back and forth, and we defended a few entries into the box really well.

'West Ham had chances, we had chances, but we were awarded a penalty for a foul on Sol, which Ollie [Harrison] put away.

'We had to defend. West Ham had a few more opportunities, and Hudson Sands pulled off a terrific save in a one-v-one. We managed to hold on and win the game 3-2.'

The head coach also stressed the importance of aggression in the team’s performance. With a younger squad this season, mostly made up of first-year scholars and a few schoolboys stepping up, he believes he saw a mature set of players who gave everything at Rush Green.

He continued: 'We wanted to be more aggressive in our press to prevent them from building any sort of rhythm. That’s what we did - we showed real aggression.

'An example of that aggression was after the break. We came out for the second half like a house on fire, which rewarded us with the goal.

'We tweaked a few things that we thought would prevent them from settling into any rhythm, and we were aggressive on the press. We just need to keep applying that pressure and aggression in our upcoming games.'

In addition to seeing maturity, Sulaiman praised the team’s character and connection on the pitch, emphasising that teamwork is key to continuing our winning run.

Looking ahead to the final fixture before the October international break, against Newcastle United in the Premier League Cup, our Under-18s boss hopes to see the strong bonds across his squad further develop.

'I’ve highlighted over the past few weeks that the boys seem to be in a stronger psychological space. That’s been evident in the last two league games, where we’ve both won and performed well.

'All the work we’ve put in over the past few weeks came to fruition, and I thought we defended really well.

'It was a really positive performance. We stressed the importance of building on the Aston Villa game, which was not only a positive result, but also a strong performance. Now, we look ahead to Newcastle and hope to make the same impact.'

Watch our Under-18s Premier League Cup clash

We aim to continue our winning streak and remain at the top of the group in the Under-18s Premier League Cup, following our 3-2 victory over Stoke City in the last round of this competition.

Supporters worldwide can watch our young Blues as we return to action against Newcastle United at Cobham Training Ground, with a scheduled kick-off at 11am.

You can stream the match free of charge on the Official Chelsea app and website via the Chelsea U18 vs Newcastle United U18 Match Centre.