Chelsea U21's draw Northwood 0-0

In what was a bit of a less thrilling contest than the 13 goal U18 game, Chelsea still impressed on the whole. Chelsea controlled the majority of the game, but they really lacked an end product in this one. This was one of those games that looked like the first pre-season game of the season should. Lot's of good things happened, but not the polish you'd really expect.

With Chelsea having already loaned out quite a few players and having taken quite a few more to the United States, they used a side in the U21 game that featured a good number of players eligible for the U18's today. I guess it's a very good sign that they more or less dominated the match despite finishing level, as they were competing against a much older and more experienced side today.

Chelsea used 21 different players in this one and 22 in the U18 game, so it was a chance for a large quantity of the Chelsea setup to get their legs back under them with about 45 minutes of action. Here are the players involved today:

U18 1st half: Ben Killip, Fankaty Dabo, Samuel Bangura, Alastair Gordon, Kevin Wright, Jordan Houghton, Jesse Starkey, Jeremie Boga, Ismail Seremba, Joao Rodriguez, Walter Figueira

U18 2nd half: Mitchell Beeney, Nortei Nortey, Jonathen Muleba, Dion Conroy, Ambrose Gnahore, George Cole, Isak Ssewekambo, Tom Howard, Charley Musonda, Reese Mitchell, Chike Kandi

U21 1st half: Sam Walker, Archange Nkumu, Alex Davey, Nathan Aké, Aziz Deen-Conteh, Conor Clifford, Milan Lalkovic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Adam Coombes (Phillip), Billy Clifford, Bertrand Traore

U21 2nd half: Tyka Musonda, Victorien Angban, Andreas Christensen, Adam Nditi, Vincent Angban, John Swift, Lamisha Musonda, Lewis Baker, Islam Feruz, Amin Affane

Some of the names on here are a bit interesting. Bertrand Traore had reportedly not yet officially signed with Chelsea as of the ACoN last winter, but he's again playing for the club in a friendly. We heard word of Joao Rodriguez in February, and he was very impressive today. Earlier in February we learned that Andreas Christensen was coming. Charley Musonda and family were big news last month, and this is the first I've heard that we added the Angban brothers (Victorien is a very good prospect out of the Ivory Coast). I'll do some digging on those guys and let you know what I find. Anyway, it was a good day all around for the Chelsea youngsters as they got in their first real minutes of the season. Isn't it great to have games to talk about again?