Our young Blues were coming off a good win against table-toppers West Ham last weekend as they took on Arsenal at Cobham this morning.

This was the third London derby on the bounce and our Under-18s were seeking a third win.

Despite a positive start from our boys, it was the young Gunners who took the lead when Omari Benjamin was the quickest to react following Luke Campbell’s initial save from a Seb Ferdinand shot.

We remained positive in our approach, and we were almost rewarded with a goal as Mendel-Idowu struck the post with a fierce shot from just inside the penalty box.

Louis Flower, who was having a good first half,thought he had equalised when he headed home from a Zain Silcott-Duberry header, but his goal was ruled out for offside.

Josh Acheampong made a fine recovery tackle as Ethan Nwaneri looked set to score from inside the box, preventing Arsenal from doubling their lead.

However, we could do nothing to stop a fine free-kick from Michael Rosiak who found the bottom corner with his set-piece from 25 yards out.

We managed to grab an equaliser though, two minutes before the first period ended. Flower played a good ball across the face of goal which was finished well into the roof of the net by Ronnie Stutter. That was his first goal of the season.

Stutter had an early chance to level the scoreline as he broke through the away team’s defence, but his eventual shot went just past the post.

Benjamin grabbed his second of the game when a good team move resulted in our opponents finding their striker in the middle of the box and he steered past Campbell.

We probed to try to get ourselves back into the game, but we were caught out 10 minutes from time as second-half substitute Jimi Gower scored from a free-kick from the edge of the box. That was their second goal from a set-piece today.

That was how the game would end as our young Blues suffer a heavy defeat in the London derby.

Academy News

In other news, goalkeeper Ted Curd has signed his first professional contract with the club, committing to the Blues till at least the summer of 2025.

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Luke Campbell; Josh Acheampong, Harrison Murray-Campbell (c), Kaiden Wilson, Zain Silcott-Duberry (Noah Hay 79), Kiano Dyer (Harrison McMahon 70), Chinonso Chibueze (Tyrique George 59), Michael Golding, Ronnie Stutter, Tudor Mendel-Idowu (Ato Ampah 59), Louis Flower.

Unused sub: Kai Crampton.

Scorer: Ronnie Stutter 43

Booked: Tyrique George 64

Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Noah Cooper; Michael Rosiak, Tino Quamina (Ismail Oulad M’hand 73), Maldini Kacurri, Josh Robinson, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Seb Ferdinand, Bradley Ibrahim (c) (Jimi Gower 63), Omari Benjamin (Ismeal Kabia 84), Ethan Nwaneri, Osman Kamara (Josh Nicholas 73).

Unused sub: Alexei Rojas.

Scorers: Omari Benjamin 22, 54; Michael Rosiak 41, Jimi Gower 81.

Booked: Myles Lewis 45; Tino Quamina 67.