The Blues travel to Walton Hall Park in the fourth round tomorrow, with kick-off scheduled for 1pm. It is a game you can watch live for free on the Official Chelsea App.

Chelsea have already won on the road against Leicester City to reach this stage, with another away tie against Crystal Palace in the last 16 on offer for Sunday’s winner at Walton Hall Park.

However, the Blues will need to hit the ground running to progress, with the 2-2 league draw at Leicester two weeks ago being our Under-18s’ only match since 19 December. However, Sulaiman knows his team is eager to return to the form that saw us win four in a row before Christmas and go far in the biggest competition around at this level.

‘Every game we want to win,’ said Sulaiman. ‘The boys have set themselves high standards so to get the point at Leicester was a little bit disappointing, but there was an element of resilience and character that was required not to lose the game and I’m pleased the boys displayed that.

‘Going into this game, we definitely want to progress in the competition of course, hopefully all the way to the final, but we are taking it one game at a time. We’ll approach this game no different to the others, with desire and a winning mentality.

‘It doesn’t get any bigger at this level, it’s the FA Youth Cup, it’s a prestigious competition and the one you want to win. So the boys understand the magnitude of what the competition holds. They certainly want to do well, but it’s one thing to say how well you want to do and it’s another thing to put it into action.

‘I have no doubts the boys will turn up, will compete, will give everything they can to implement the game plan and the playing philosophy of the Academy. So I’m certain the boys are going to be in the right frame of mind to compete and try to win the game.’

Sulaiman also believes the lack of recent game time for his team is a double-edged sword. While the Under-18s haven’t been competing, they have made good use of the additional time to work on the training pitch.

A number of the players have been in action for our Under-21s during that period too, with the common approach taken across our Academy teams allowing a seamless transition across different teams.

‘Nothing prepares you as much as playing a game. We haven’t been able to do that, but we have played an in-house game and we’ve had a couple of 11v11s and 10v10s in training, which is the closest we can prepare for a game of this magnitude.

‘However, the individual bits we’re able to do with the players, such as working in small groups or units, working on patterns of play but then also singling out areas individuals need to develop. This period has allowed us to really work and hone in on areas we need to improve as a team and as individuals.

‘We like to push players as much as we can, so although we haven’t had a game as a group, the Under-21s started their last game with seven Under-18s in the team. The boys are still being exposed to competitive football, even if we haven’t played together.

‘We’ve had the Youth Cup group together for a few days. That’s why it’s important that we follow the Academy philosophy, we have our playing style and that doesn’t change. So when the boys drop in and out of different teams, it’s easy for them to slot right in.’

That will be important come Sunday afternoon, as Sulaiman knows an away trip to Everton in the FA Youth Cup will be another difficult challenge, just like the one we overcame in beating Leicester 3-1 in the last round.

‘It's going to be a tough game, but there are no easy games in this competition. Even if we played against a Category 2 or 3 club, they would provide a different challenge for us, maybe staying in a low block and making it really difficult for us to play against.

‘Playing against a Category 1 team like Everton, we can expect they will be good on the ball, will want to attack. They’ll have some good threats so we know we can’t be complacent. But on the other side, they’ll also be good defensively.

‘The Leicester game certainly wasn’t a walk in the park, it was tough at 1-1 and a couple of subs came on and they changed the game for us. We expect something similar at Everton, so we have to make sure we’re up for the game.’