The young Blues head back up north only a few days after defeating Leeds United 2-0 on Monday to maintain their perfect league record in 2024, after four wins from four so far. Kick-off at Middlesbrough is at 1pm on Friday 23 February and you can watch the match live on the Official Chelsea App.

But fighting on all fronts in three competitions has meant a jam-packed fixture list, with the win at Leeds arriving only a few days after the battling 2-1 defeat against PSV Eindhoven in the Premier League International Cup at Stamford Bridge.

Robinson’s team are also still in the mix in the Premier League Cup, with a home tie against Norwich City looming, only a little over 72 hours after the trip to Boro.

'It's a tough schedule coming up now, we've got to travel back up to Middlesbrough and go again with quite a small squad,’ said Robinson. ‘Then we have the last-16 cup tie against Norwich on Monday.

'We're quite stretched as a squad, but it's a great mental challenge for the lads. Although it is physically quite tough, I always believe the mental challenges of that kind of schedule are tougher than the physical.

'We put high demands on them to prepare for men's football, but they also have to take on their ownership in terms of preparing between games and getting the basics right.

'If we do that hopefully we'll go out and get another two good results over the next week.'

By the end of Monday’s game, some players may have featured across four games in only 11 days - a demanding schedule at any level of football. But a second win in north Yorkshire this week would move the young Blues into the top five, a point clear of a Fulham side currently in fifth.

Robinson felt his team improved as the game wore on during that win at Leeds, where goals from Leo Castledine and Ronnie Stutter did the damage. And the Blues boss believes the lessons they can take from the previous two fixtures will stand them in good stead for the upcoming double header.

‘We always reflect on every game, win, draw or lose, and we felt there loads of positives to take from both the PSV game and Leeds.

‘Against PSV we were up against a real high-level quality team and that highlighted things we could do better. And those points came to the forefront a little bit in the first half the other day [against Leeds].

‘Although we lost against PSV, we spoke to the lads about how we can build on that and how we can take ourselves to the next level individually and collectively. I think the lads have shown they can do that, they now just need to maintain it.’

Where to watch the live stream

You can watch our Under-21s' Premier League 2 fixture against Middlesbrough live on the Official Chelsea App, complete with enhanced stats and event tracking from MVX, built by Infinite Athlete. It will be available globally and priced at £1.99.