In a busy week for our Under-21s squad, with two fixtures in five days, our Portuguese head coach was pleased with the first performance on Monday night against Bournemouth.

We applied immediate pressure to the Cherries on their home turf, which resulted in an opener from Harvey Vale, who headed in after a brilliant looping cross from Richard Olise, putting us 1-0 up at the break. After the restart, we continued to dominate with Brodi Hughes adding his name to the scoresheet by smashing home a rebound after Jimmy-Jay Morgan’s initial effort was saved.

Chelsea didn’t stop there, though, as Deivid Washington scored from the penalty spot after being brought down inside the area. Although the home side pulled one back in the closing stages, Deivid completed his brace with a fine finish into the bottom corner, giving us three points from a successful evening of football.

'We displayed a very consistent performance,' Coelho told us. 'We showed quality in both offensive and defensive phases.

'Bournemouth are a very tough team, so the direct play they promote puts you in a situation where you have to fight to earn the right to play your football and we did that. We showed that in the way we reached the last third, mainly in the first half when they were a little bit more closed and had more energy, but when we got to the box the quality of the delivery or the last pass was not there.

'We just scored one goal in the first half but we had plenty of opportunities to go into half-time with a higher score.

'In the second half, with our pace and our rhythm, we opened more gaps in Bournemouth’s structure, and we took advantage of that in our transitions, scoring three more goals, although we were disappointed to concede as well.'

That was the Under-21s' first fixture since the October international window. While some of Coelho's players remained at Cobham for training, eight Chelsea players represented either England's Elite Squad or the England Under-19s.

He continued: 'It was a confident performance for the first game after a long international break. I was a little bit worried that we wouldn’t have the ability to keep up the good job that we did in our last competitive game, against Fulham, but the boys did well to come back with a lot of energy.

'Having that energy and passion can often be the decider of the result in games. Sometimes after international breaks it feels like you are starting all over again and it’s difficult to keep the focus but the boys did very well.'

Next, the Under-21s return to Premier League 2 action hoping to continue our winning momentum after beating Fulham 6-0 last time out in the same competition.

We welcome Leicester City to our Kingsmeadow home under the lights on Friday night, with kick-off at 7pm. Tickets are still available to purchase for that league fixture, with adult tickets £7 and junior and senior tickets priced at £5.