Ed Brand was appointed head coach of the Chelsea youth team earlier this month following the promotion of Andy Myers to the development squad and a visit to north London will be his first assignment in charge.

The Gunners were southern champions last term and are unbeaten in home league fixtures against the Blues since 2013, when a Jeremie Boga hat-trick inspired us to a 3-0 win.

Another London derby follows, this time against West Ham at Cobham, before meetings with Southampton and Aston Villa in August. The Under-18 Premier League is in the seventh season under the current format, which splits the 24 Category One academies regionally into northern and southern leagues.

READ: DEVELOPMENT SQUAD FIXTURES CONFIRMED

Teams play each other twice, both at home and away, before the regional winners compete in an end-of-season play-off to determine the national champion. Our youngsters have been crowned winners of the southern section in four of the past five seasons, with the national title also secured in 2017 and 2018.

The Under-18 Premier League Cup also returns for its third season and sees all 24 Category One teams compete, initially in a group stage format before knockout matches are played from the quarter-finals onwards. Groups are comprised of two northern and two southern teams, enabling sides to face opposition outside of their regional league programme. The draw will be made shortly and details announced on this website in due course.

The league fixture list in full is outlined below.