The Blues are now on a run of five consecutive victories in the Premier League 2, dating back to the start of this year, in addition to booking our place in the quarter-finals of the Premier League Cup with a 3-2 victory over Norwich City on Monday evening.

That has come in a busy spell for our Under-21s, as Friday’s match will be our fifth in the space of 16 days, but Mark Robinson is keen to continue that run when we travel to Arsenal, who now sit just one point above us in third place in the PL2 table, with kick-off at 7pm.

‘Now we’ve got to go again four days after the win over Norwich, this time against Arsenal,’ he said. ‘We’ve only lost one game in our last 11 in all competitions now, and that was against a vastly more experienced PSV Eindhoven side who had a very controversial penalty decision, which still hurts us.

‘What’s key now is the boys need to understand why this run has happened and the reason why we’re in this vein of form. There’s been an awful lot of individual development going on and they’ve shown a lot of collective team spirit as well.

‘If they lose that momentum then the spirit can very quickly be taken away, so we need to keep in a healthy place where it’s about “we” not “me”. Us coaches can make sure we focus on the individual development, but the players need to focus on that collective team spirit, because if you’re not careful you can lose it very quickly.’

Robinson believes that is a crucial part of the mindset at Academy level. With so much focus on development, that will always be his priority, with game time shared around his squad and younger players being given a chance.

However, if the team can achieve the difficult task of building a strong collective spirit within that, then success often follows.

‘Our mindset is we have to focus hugely on the individual, because fundamentally developing individual players is what it’s about at this level. The players then have to look after that collective spirit.

‘That’s key, and there’s things we can do to help that as well, but that’s what they’ve got to look after and make sure we don’t lose it. It can be tough when players are left out, but there are enough games for everyone to get good opportunities to flourish and show what they can do.

‘So that collective spirit is vital while we focus on developing the players individually. Essentially, if you make players better then the team performance will always improve.’

If the Blues continue to show the same spirit which secured late winning goals against Norwich and Middlesbrough in our previous two matches, it could be another top-quality performance when we take on Arsenal looking to break into the PL2’s top three.

Where to watch the live stream

You can watch our Under-21s' Premier League 2 fixture against Arsenal 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.