Chelsea already took an important step forward in the Under-18 Premier League title race in our last match on Tuesday evening, winning 3-2 away at top-of-the-table West Ham United to go within six points of the leaders, having played three games less.

That result left our next opponents Tottenham Hotspur level with West Ham at the top - albeit having played one game more than the Hammers and four more than the Blues – meaning Saturday’s trip to Spurs is sure to be another difficult match, but also another opportunity to cut the gap to the top two.

Kick-off at Tottenham is at 11am on Saturday 17 February – the game will be streamed live on the Official Chelsea App – and it is a challenge Under-18s head coach Hassan Sulaiman is looking forward to, but just the latest of many for his team.

‘It's another big game and another big opportunity, but we’re just taking every game as it comes,’ said Sulaiman. ‘If we are to achieve what we want to this season, we know we have to win almost every game.

‘So we’re taking it one game at a time. The West Ham game was brilliant, we’re hoping for another top performance in the Tottenham game, and then we’ll see where it takes us.’

That makes it an important week for our title ambitions, facing both the sides above us in the table in the space of five days. Furthermore, those games arrive sandwiched between two FA Youth Cup away ties, also London derbies, having already defeated Crystal Palace in the last round before taking on Millwall in the quarter-finals next week.

It is certainly a challenging run for the team, but also one that provides a wealth of the kind of high-pressure match situations for which there is no substitute when it comes to player development, and are so vital for building experience they can take into the next step towards senior football.

‘This is the best preparation,’ Sulaiman added. ‘Playing games is the best way to prepare for becoming a professional footballer, although training is important too, because your standards in training still have to be high so you that you are able to perform on matchday.

‘You just have to look at the games we’ve played recently and the games we have coming up. We’ve just played a tough game against West Ham, prior to that we had a PL Cup quarter-final against Leicester which was tough as well, we’ve got another tough league game against Tottenham, then we’ve got a big game in the FA Youth Cup quarter-final, and then after that we’ve got Aston Villa, who are also a really good side.

‘So we’ve got lots of games in quick succession and all the games are tough. This is what prepares the boys for the Premier League. There are no easy games in the Premier League, so if they want to make it there and do well there in the future, this run that we’ve got is exactly what the boys need.’

Where to watch the live stream

You can watch our Under-18s' Premier League fixture against Tottenham Hotspur 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.