Our young Blues take on Blackburn Rovers away on Saturday afternoon with kick-off scheduled for 1pm.
The development squad side are looking to bounce back from last week’s defeat against West Ham United.
2023 began in fine fashion as three wins on the bounce against Leicester City, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Fulham respectively put us on top of the PL2 albeit having played a game more than our nearest opponents Manchester City.
The West Ham loss two weeks ago was our first in the league since August and despite the loss, Josh Brooking is positive that the team are not disheartened going into the upcoming fixture.
Brooking’s words
Brooking said, ‘The boys have been great in training this week and in general this season and I am also pleased with progress this season. The important thing is we do not let defeats like this affect us and we have not shown any signs of that because of the standards we set.’
He added that, ‘The main aim for us all is to be the best that we can be and continue to improve as a team and individually. We have been consistent this season in our performances and that has translated to a lot of good wins, but now our focus is bouncing back after a defeat which I do not believe our general play deserved.’
Brooking has taken on an elevated level of responsibility, as recent matches have seen him selected as the captain of the development squad side following Bashir Humphreys’ loan to Paderborn. The centre-back spoke on how it feels to be entrusted with the armband.
‘There has been a shared sense of responsibility across the whole team, there is not just one voice and I think that helps me as a captain because my style is not necessarily telling people what to do.
‘I want to lead by example, there will be the times where you are disappointed, but you have to show strong character and mentality as you are setting an example.’
Our young Blues currently sit second in the PL2, two points behind Manchester City, although the young Citizens do have a game in hand over Mark Robinson's men.
Chelsea last won the PL2 Division 1 title in the 2019/20 season and despite being in a good position to compete again, Brooking highlighted the immediate target for the squad.
'The focus within the team is to develop and win football matches first,' he said. 'If that means at the end it results in a title then we have done very well. We recognise we are in a great position to compete for the title but honestly we do not focus on the future, we take each game as it comes.'
Blackburn revisited
We took on Blackburn Rovers earlier on this season and we cruised to a 3-0 victory at Kingsmeadow.
Mason Burstow broke the deadlock on the hour mark as we finally broke the Rovers resolve.
We added two late goals through Omari Hutchinson and Ben Elliott with the former scoring from the penalty spot.