The Blues are already assured of a place in the knockout stages of the Premier League Cup, sitting top of our group on 12 points with four wins from as many games ahead of our penultimate match at 7pm this evening.

That means there is little riding on the meeting with Colchester United at Kingsmeadow, but Robinson is eager to maintain our 100 per cent record in the competition with another positive result to add to the 3-2 win over Manchester United in the Premier League 2 last time out.

However, as this game comes the day after our Under-18s’ FA Youth Cup victory at Everton, and the day before the men take on Middlesbrough in the Carabao Cup semi-finals, Robinson admits he may field a new-look and youthful line-up.

‘Winning is a fantastic habit so we want to keep that momentum, but also we are unsure what sort of side we’ll be putting out until quite late,’ he explained. ‘The Youth Cup game on Sunday eliminated a lot of those players, and the first team have a game on Tuesday.

‘Our line-up and squad could be young, it could be even younger than Under-18s. It could be a mix of Under-21s and possibly some Under-18s and some younger, but it’s about finding the balance.

‘So although we want to win and we want to maintain that momentum, because we have qualified it could be a really exciting opportunity for more outside-the-box thinking for our development.

‘But we realise we’re in a pretty good vein of form – we’ve only lost four of our last 17 games in all competitions – and this is another game we want to go and win despite us having qualified.’

A game like this will also allow Robinson and his coaching staff a chance to evaluate the mentality of the players at his disposal, to see if they have the pride and desire to avoid complacency creeping in when the pressure is off.

‘One of the things that can be lacking from players is that intrinsic motivation. So again it’s an opportunity to show that you’ve got your own motivation inside you to perform to the best of your ability.

‘It shouldn’t need to be a must-win game, you shouldn’t need that for motivation. Fundamentally you’re putting on a Chelsea shirt in a game of football, your own self-drive should provide enough motivation to win the game anyway.’

In addition, this fixture could provide another opportunity for Robinson to hand some responsibility for the preparations and tactical planning to the players.

It is something he has found useful in the past, to help improve their understanding of game management and develop leadership skills.

‘We want to win, but it’s another opportunity to give the players a higher degree of ownership, under some structure, which we want to do. I’m a big believer that it’s something that’s missing in younger players’ development. Going into first-team football they will need it.

‘That will only stem from giving them certain things to think about before the game, during the game and after the game. But again it will be about finding the balance because it might be too much too young for some of the players this time, and we don’t want to overload them with responsibility as this might be new to some of them.

‘But the overriding thought for this game is that we want to give them a bit more ownership, to improve their decision making and develop their social and psychological behaviour on and off the pitch.’