Musonda, Baker play in Chelsea U23’s rousing comeback victory against Liverpool in PL2

Chelsea U23 (i.e. “Development Squad”) recorded our first win of the Premier League 2 (PL2) season last night, in a rousing come-from-behind win over Liverpool U23.

It was another seven-goal thriller for Andy Myers’ young Blues, who were spanked 6-1 by Arsenal last weekend, but this time won by the odd goal, completing their 30-minute comeback from two goals down to win 4-3 in stoppage time. Lewis Hall grabbed the winner, while Bryan Fiabema, George Nunn, and Joe Haigh also got on the scoresheet.

Picking up the assist on Nunn’s goal was Lewis Baker, who got his first bit of semi-competitive action this season after failing to secure a summer move. The 26-year-old midfielder played the full 90, and even had the ball in the back of the net himself before seeing his effort ruled out for offside. But it wasn’t Baker’s appearance that was the most notable.

None other than Charly Musonda lined up on the right wing at the start of the game, for his first appearance of any kind for any team in over two years, since August 2019 when he was on loan at Vitesse. The 24-year-old former wunderkind has been battling back from knee problems, recently declaring himself “fully fit” on Instagram. Musonda played an hour in his return, and hopefully the first hour of many more to come.

Photo by Clive Howes - Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images

Other notable appearances in this game included Xavier Simons, getting his first start in just over a year after his own injury issues, and fellow Xavier, Mbuyamba, who was recently on the first-team bench for our League Cup match against Aston Villa. Mbuyamba had also spent most of last season recovering from injury, so it’s great to see them both back in action!

The win also moves Chelsea off the bottom of the PL2 table, which wasn’t a nice place to be.