With two league fixtures remaining, Chelsea Under-21s are already assured of a place in the end-of-season play-offs and the chance to compete for the Premier League 2 title.

It had looked likely for some time as a run of good form saw us win seven of our nine league fixtures since the start of 2024, but it was put beyond doubt on Monday evening when the Blues triumphed 4-0 away at Aston Villa, an achievement made all the more impressive by our relatively young squad for this level of Academy football.

'The win secures us a place in the play-offs and also assures us of a place in the top 12,' explained Under-21s head coach Mark Robinson. 'That allows us to apply for entry into the Premier League International Cup next season, should we wish to do that.

'After seeing the figures, we have the second or third-youngest squad in the league this season, and the other two clubs in that are quite a bit further down the table than us.

'It’s particularly pleasing to see that, and we had six Under-18s players in the starting line-up against Aston Villa, and finished with seven on the pitch after substitutions.'

It was clear Robinson's side started the match at Villa determined not to let this chance to book our place in the knockout stages with two games to spare slip through their fingers.

The home side had no answer to the fast start which culminated in a Dujuan Richards brace giving us a 2-0 first-half lead, and the head coach had special praise for goalkeeper Teddy Curd, whose awareness and technical ability created the second of those goals.

'We started very well and had a goal disallowed very early on, due to a tight decision, but we weren’t deterred by that and quickly took control of the game. We passed the ball well and looked really comfortable.

'We knew that Villa played a very high line, so we wanted to exploit that where possible, not just through our front two, but our wing-backs and Zain Silcott-Duberry, who was playing as a No10. We had a really good mixture of play and it worked for us.

'When a goalkeeper goes from back to front, it’s always described as a "long ball", which throws up connotations of it being a percentage ball, played into an area, but the one from Teddy for our second goal wasn’t one of those.

'It was a great long pass and that’s how it would be described if it was hit by a deep-lying midfielder or centre-half. Regardless, it was a great ball for Whisper to run onto and he did really well to finish and make it 2-0.'

It wasn't just in creating chances that Curd proved important to the victory. Despite Deivid Washington extending our lead in the second half and Tyrique George making it 4-0 late on, Robinson felt we could have been punished for a drop in performance after the break if it weren't for our keeper's contribution to maintaining a clean sheet.

'Aston Villa had a little spell in the last few minutes of the first half, when they made a couple of half-chances, so at half-time we talked about tightening our grip, not releasing it,' he added.

'We spoke about what that should look like, but unfortunately for the first 15 minutes of the second half we saw some behaviours we have seen in the past, that allowed them to continue in the ascendancy.

'In that period we had to rely on Teddy to pull off a couple of good saves, and some good defending, particularly by Brodi Hughes. However, that was the only disappointing spell of the match, and we did eventually get a grip on the game and go on to create a number of good chances ourselves.

'It was a high-energy performance, our physical output was really good, but we do have to work hard to eliminate those little lulls, as they can cost you.'

That physical output will need to remain high, due to a short turnaround to our next Under-21s match, when the Blues travel to Crystal Palace on Friday evening.

Although a play-off place is assured, Chelsea remain in with a chance of catching third-placed Fulham in the table to secure a better seeding position for the knockout draw.