Our Under-21s return to action following the international break as we host Strasbourg at Cobham early this evening, giving the Blues a chance to get back up to speed before a busy run of league and cup fixtures up to Christmas.

You can see how they get on, with the match being shown live on the Official Chelsea App, complete with enhanced stats and event tracking from MVX, built with Infinite Athlete.

For Under-21s head coach Mark Robinson today will also bring his return to the touchline after missing the last two matches due to illness.

‘I got back onto the grass last Friday, which was really nice,’ he said. ‘I am really looking forward to it – and we are putting an emphasis on the lads taking quite a bit of ownership today. That will be good and I’m looking forward to seeing how they respond.’

That theme of the players taking ownership on matchday is an important one for their development, in Robinson’s eyes. Having handed management duties over to his squad for an end-of-season game against another French side, Monaco, earlier this year, there are similar plans for the visit of Strasbourg.

‘We did a player-led game at the end of the season because I’m a big believer of giving players ownership, empowering them, and making sure they can problem solve,’ he explained. ‘We feel this group isn’t quite ready for that yet, but for this game we will give them a bigger degree of ownership on certain things than we would normally. That will be an ongoing process through the season.

‘It’s something I’ve always done as a coach and there have been great outcomes from it. I believe that players have so much more knowledge than they realise. They can just get stuck in habits and rely on the coaches for something they don’t need to.

‘So when you give them that ownership, it shows them how much they are capable of. You want to develop players that can react to different situations, can take control of different situations, because football is such a random game that can change all the time.

‘You want players that can react and show leadership skills. By doing these games – and it’s all part of an ongoing process in training – they build those skills that are so important for their careers.’

That doesn’t mean he and his players won’t be taking the match seriously, though, as he emphasised the importance of ensuring a competitive challenge to prepare the team for the weeks ahead.

‘We want to get some rhythm back, we certainly don’t want to treat it as a friendly. We will treat it like any game that we want to win.

‘But after such a big break, it’s important that players who are regularly in the squad get as many minutes as possible. So it’s about getting into the rhythm, good habits, and look at other things we might be trying moving into the next part of the season.’

Robinson also explained how he spent the international break working with his players, as well as his pleasure at receiving positive feedback from the senior team’s coaching staff about the members of his squad who crossed the road to train with Maurico Pochettino’s side during that period.

‘A lot of the lads went across to the first team to help with their numbers during the international break. For the ones that didn’t, we’ve done extra individual work that is more specific to their development needs.

‘Even for the lads that went across to the first team, we put on extra sessions in the afternoon so that they were still getting their individual development work. So we’ve honed in on their own action plans and individual development.

‘I speak regularly with Jesus [Perez, assistant head coach to Pochettino], pretty much on a daily basis. I get feedback, positive or not positive, but it’s usually always been positive.

‘If they go across and do well, which they have done, you feel good. You take a lot of pride in how they approach things. The last thing you want to hear is their application isn’t what it should be. Fortunately, that has always been good and, on top of that, you want them to show quality. The feedback has been good and that is always nice to receive.’

Those players will no doubt be taking what they have been working on over the last couple of weeks and attempting to put it into practice against Strasbourg today, while being given more freedom to take control of things on the pitch, which should make for interesting viewing for Blues supporters.

How to watch live

The match will be available to watch live exclusively on the Official Chelsea App for £1.99, complete with enhanced stats and event tracking from MVX, built with Infinite Athlete.