Lewis Bate, Henry Lawrence in line for Chelsea debuts if FA Cup match against Morecambe is held — report

Frank Lampard’s Chelsea set a modern club record last year for the number of Academy debuts in a single season with eight, but while the primary campaign of that Youth Revolution™ is now over, the new paradigm of keeping the barriers low between the youth and the senior teams remains in place.

Case in point, young midfielder Lewis Bate, 18, and versatile full back Henry Lawrence, 19, being in line for full debuts for the club in our upcoming FA Cup match against lower league Morecambe FC. That’s according to a report from Goal’s Nizaar Kinsella, who adds that 19-year-old Tino Anjorin is likely to start as well, which would be his fourth appearance for the club, with Chelsea hoping to use the game as an opportunity to play as many U23s as possible.

Bate and Lawrence have been on the fringes of the first team already, and both were named to the bench against Bayern Munich in our final match of last season, while Bate was also named to the bench against Sheffield United in one of our last few games during Project Restart. If they make their debuts, they will be the ninth and tenth Academy players given debuts by Lampard & Co.

The only wrench in this plan is that Morecambe FC are currently shut down due to COVID-19 and have had their next two matches cancelled already. Hopefully they can be ready to play in 10 days, and we can see a few more Academy names pop up on the teamsheet, such as maybe Jude Soonsup-Bell?