Chelsea Under-21s face a tough task in our next match, away at one of the Premier League 2's form teams, West Ham United on Friday evening. Kick off is at 7pm and the game will be streamed live on the Official Chelsea App.

We are in good form ourselves, though, especially going forward after netting three or more goals in each of our last four matches. However, that hasn't always resulted in the comfortable victories we would like, as shown by the 3-3 draw with Leeds United in the Premier League Cup last time out.

We gave away the lead on three occasions during that cup fixture and it is an issue which has appeared throughout this season, but one head coach Mark Robinson knows we will need to put behind us to get the win in tonight's difficult match.

‘It’s a game against one of the top sides who are doing really well,' he said. 'In our other games against the top three sides; against Tottenham we were very good until 70 minutes but then got overrun a little bit against an older side, then against Fulham we were winning and again gave the lead away.

‘So we certainly want to stop that and it would be lovely to put in a really good solid defensive performance, but at the same time we don’t want to lose that threat. To get a favourable result we’re going to have to put in a more complete performance.’

Not that Robinson believes it is down to any major flaws, instead looking to improve in the fine margins which can make the all the difference on the pitch, as well as easing the pressure on the players when trying to maintain a lead.

‘I think it’s just little moments really. We looked at the Leeds game where we conceded three goals and they had four attempts, so sometimes it can feel harsh. It is only small margins, it’s only little things, we don’t feel that we’re wide open or defensively poor.

‘We’ve got to enjoy being in the lead more and find ways of staying on the front foot and on the offensive, without leaving ourselves open. Sometimes our structure behind the ball needs to be a little bit more aggressive.

‘But it’s all part of the learning curve really, and we’re looking forward to trying to change and improve in that area.’

Chelsea Under-21s made a shaky start to this season’s Premier League 2 campaign, as a relatively young side got to grips with the demands of the top level of Academy football.

However, the Blues have made strides forward since, as evident in our recent form, having won both of our league fixtures so far in 2024. Robinson is hoping we can continue to build on that in the second half of the season to secure a spot in the title play-offs.

‘We had some disappointing league results early on,’ he continued. ‘Even though the performances weren’t that bad, in terms of results we know we dropped points. We’ve been a lot more consistent since, we’ve only lost three out of 19 now across all competitions.

‘We want to put ourselves in a really good position in the league. It’s not about winning it in the league stage now, we know that’s probably beyond us, but as long as we finish in the play-off places then we’ve got a chance of going on, progressing and winning the whole competition.’

Where to watch the live stream

You can watch our Under-18s' FA Youth Cup fixture against Crystal Palace live on the Official Chelsea App for free, complete with enhanced stats and event tracking from MVX, built by Infinite Athlete.