Tonight sees the return of the FA Youth cup, not only for the next round but the return of youth cup football to Stamford Bridge. Hopefully there will be a good crowd there tonight to cheer on the boys against a Portsmouth team that dispatched Tottenham in the last round.

This is the first team the youth cup is being played at the bridge since our 1 – 1 draw with Manchester City in the final 2 seasons ago when a certain Daniel Sturridge and a certain Gael Kakuta scored the goals.

After a slowish start in the cup against Charlton the boys found their feet against Nottingham forest with a few tweaks to the team and formation. Last round Milan Lalkovic was left on the bench but came on and made a good impact. Team selection for this one will be interesting, Josh McEachran has had a poor couple of games in the cup and has been brought on in both, Kaby Djalo and Billy Knott on the other hand seem to have both forced their way into the team after not featuring in the starting lineup. Also will Jeffrey Bruma play after an injury? I have a feeling that Josh McEachran will keep his place in the team at the expense of Jacopo Sala who is an older member of this team but who has suffered with squandering excellent chances in the 2 cup matches so far. Milan Lalkovic i am sure will earn a recall to the starting lineup to play on the opposite wing to Gokhan Tore who will hope to continue his outstanding form.

I think that the team for tonight will be this:

……………………………Walker……………………………..
B.Clifford………Pappoe…….Bruma………………Knott
…………………………..C.Clifford…………………………..
………………Djalo……………………McEachran…………
Lalkovic…………………Mitrovic………………………Tore

Although i did get the last team quite wrong with Drummy throwing in a few suprises for us.

Marco Mitrovic is another player who will be looking to continue and excellent run of form. Fresh from a hat-trick against West Ham at the weekend Mitrovic will have the taste for it, and with goals in both rounds of the cup so far i am sure we will see him pick up another goal or 2. The team we have for this cup run is a very strong team with good options from the bench if needed too players like Sala, Deen-Conteh, Prosenik, Devyne, Saville, Rodgers all have a lot to offer.

It will be great to see these boys running out at the bridge and i am sure that there is enough in them to overcome Portsmouth, should we do that an away trip to either Liverpool or Watford will await, Liverpool having knocked us out last year! Lets wish the boys luck, get a good crowd down at the bridge and see them through.

My prediction is a 4 – 1 win to the Chelsea boys…