The Blues are now four points clear at the top of the Under-18 Premier League southern table, in front of second-placed West Ham United, and nine points ahead of Arsenal in third, going into Saturday’s 11am kick-off away at Fulham.

In fact, there is even a small chance things could be decided tomorrow if Chelsea win and other results go their way. If West Ham then lose and Arsenal drop points – their matches both start an hour later – then we will have an uncatchable lead at the top.

However, Under-18s head coach Hassan Sulaiman and his team aren’t getting ahead of themselves, leaving the speculation and maths to others while they remain firmly focused on the task at hand.

That task is of course to get the three points at Fulham, continuing the form which has seen the Blues go undefeated in the league since October, winning 10 of the 12 matches during that period.

‘We’ve got to just focus on ourselves,’ insisted Sulaiman. ‘Naturally everyone wants to look at the table and ask questions, but if we focus on working on the momentum that we’ve managed to build across the last few months, I think it’s just business as usual.

‘We just have to carry on with business as usual and we will see where it takes us. Our ambition is to perform well and win every game. That’s always our ambition and that stays the same, it’s no different going into this game at the weekend.’

It is another short turnaround going into this match, following Wednesday’s trip to Reading, with little time to work with the players in training ahead of another important fixture. Thankfully, Sulaiman feels his players have been well drilled in how they need to play throughout the campaign, so it is a situation they are more than capable of handling.

‘At this stage of the season you would like to think that the boys are well versed on the requirements of our tactics and how we want them to play and how we want them to approach the game. There might be some slight adaptations, but that’s it.

‘Training at this stage of the season, when we’re looking at three or four weeks left, it’s just about reiterating and going over the things in our performances where we’ve excelled, and a few healthy reminders here and there.

'So you’d like to think that they understand what we’re trying to achieve in each game and they know the game plan. Even with games coming thick and fast, I don’t think it should pose too much of a problem.’

It will be very much a case of more of the same for the Blues then, following the 4-1 win over Reading last time out.

Reflecting on that dominant performance and what ended up being a comfortable victory, as we steamed ahead in the second half after retaking the lead shortly before the break, it is that second-half performance Sulaiman is keen to replicate on Saturday.

‘It was definitely a game that we knew we could dominate and one that I felt we controlled for the large majority of it,’ he said.

‘We had some really good chances in the first half, we had quite a number of chances in the second half, quite a number of entries into the final third and then the opposition box.

‘We grew a bit frustrated early on, because of the control we had, how well they defended and how we didn’t maximise the opportunities that we had, in terms of making sure that we registered shots on target and really troubled the goalkeeper.

‘At half-time we said to the boys that we looked comfortable, we could win the game, we were in control. We just refined a few areas in our play and our build-up play, where they sat in a mid-block, but also what we did when we had broken their block and got into the attacking third.

‘In that second half we capitalised on our opportunities a lot better. We started to exploit the spaces that they were leaving, we became more confident as we got the second, the third and definitely the fourth goal took the game away.

‘So we controlled the majority of the game. We got frustrated early on, but despite that we still had a number of opportunities and entries into the box. We probably lacked a little bit of the quality that we’ve typically shown in front of goal in recent games, but in the end we turned out comfortable winners.’

A repeat of that outcome against Fulham on Saturday, to edge closer to sealing a first-place league finish, is now next on the agenda for Sulaiman and his Under-18s squad.

Where to watch the live stream

You can watch our Under-18 Premier League fixture against Fulham 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.