I’m alive, and so is The Chelsea Spot…don’t you worry! It’s just been an extremely busy few months for everyone, especially myself, but we plan to be properly back very soon!
This ain’t a bad start, though. I didn’t think I’d be writing this one, but with the news coming out yesterday afternoon that Chelsea were going to be broadcasting this fixture on The Fifth Stand for free, I thought it would be best to get as many people excited as possible! I’m also going to take 1% credit for the broadcast happening, as I have pushed the idea to a couple working at the club for a good week now, and here we are. In fact, I was told some of the sporting directors made the late decision and got it done, so credit to them…
In general, I tend not to talk about the U17s since I haven’t watched too many of their games and there’s a lot of very young players (who don’t need that extra hype/pressure at that age), but with the final being at the Molineux, Wolves providing media content of their #U17PLCup campaign throughout the season, and Chelsea broadcasting the game for free, it just felt right. I’ll discuss Chelsea’s road to the final, what we can expect from the opposition, Chelsea’s players to look out for and so much more! Let’s get into it.
Chelsea’s Road to the Final
Chelsea faced Reading, Fulham and Palace in the group stages. They started off with a 1-1 draw against Reading, with striker Shim Mheuka scoring for the Blues. Reading have caused Chelsea some problems this year, with the U18s being held 0-0 in the 88th minute just a few weeks ago until Ato Ampah and Frankie Runham scored late on to snatch three very important points, so to start off with a draw was never going to be the end of the world.
Chelsea then very quickly showed their quality, beating Fulham 6-2 thanks to hat-tricks from Mheuka and winger Shaun Wade, and finished off the group stages in style with a 3-0 victory against Palace, with a brace from Runham and the other goalscorer being Sol Gordon. This qualified the Blues for the Quarter-Finals, where they faced Spurs on a cold night in Cobham.
And they put in one of the best academy performances of the season. In this competition, you’re allowed to play 3 overage (second year scholar) outfielders and a goalkeeper – I’ll speak more on this later. Spurs used their full allowance, including two players who started for their U21s a couple days prior, while Chelsea used none and started 5 U16s. Chelsea won 4-1 with an extremely strong performance: goals from Saheed Olagunju, Ryan McAidoo x2 & Frankie once again. City in the semis – and this one’s always a cracker.
A cracker it was. City’s U18s squad perhaps aren’t performing as well they have done in the last couple years (yes I know they’re in the FA Youth Cup Final but still), but their U17s group is full of talent and it was always going to be a tough one. Chelsea won 3-2, with goals from Runham, McAidoo and Ollie Harrison, and once again, it was a very young lineup with Chelsea starting 6 U17s and 5 U16s. Kai Crampton in net impressed, and the boys now knew they were only one step away from lifting silverware…
Hassan Sulaiman, U18s Head Coach, who will be supported on the touchline by his team and U16s Head Coach James Houghton:
‘The previous game was against Manchester City, when we beat them in the semi-final. That was a really top game, which finished 3-2. Everyone who watched that game, spectators and coaching staff alike, really enjoyed the game.
‘It was a real high-level game, with really good players on both sides and we performed very well. That’s been the story throughout our Under-17s’ cup run.’
| Player | Goals (so far) |
| Shim Mheuka | 4 |
| Frankie Runham | 4 |
| Shaun Wade | 3 |
| Ryan McAidoo | 3 |
What to expect from Chelsea & players to look out for
As I mentioned before, Chelsea have had the option to use 4 overage players in this competition but haven’t, and I expect for that to still be the case tonight, with Hassan hinting at it in his pre-match quotes:
‘Teams are allowed to use four overage players, so most teams that we’ve played against, apart from Man City, have used second years, which we haven’t done.
They’ve used their allocation of older players and we haven’t, and I think Wolves will do the same. So it will be a tough game. It’s not going to be a walk in the park, for sure.’
To be honest, I’ll be really glad if that’s the case. A lot of the first-year scholars such as Olagunju or Wade haven’t had that much football this season, so it’s been the perfect opportunity for them to show what they’re about while involving a very talented U16 group. You already know what you’re going to get from Tyrique George and Donnell McNeilly, so why not use this competition to see what you can get from the likes of Rio Ngumoha and McAidoo?
We also saw with the FA Youth Cup run this season that involving players who had been featuring with the U21s regularly, such as Kiano Dyer (who by the way is still eligible for this game!), Jimmy-Jay Morgan or Ishe Samuels-Smith, can bring their own problems with the momentum or chemistry amongst the team decreasing. Not to say that their individual quality won’t help the group, they almost definitely will, but forcing players into lineups when you haven’t done all season can cause a few issues. And anyway, 10 players who started the Quarter-Finals also started the Semi-Finals (more on that later), and from a moral perspective deserve the chance to shine on the big stage at the final in my opinion.
These U16s are most certainly a talented bunch too. They’ve just had a mini tournament against a couple European teams, and I managed to grab the team-sheet of one of the games. It’s no surprise that they’ve had success when stepping up to the U17s and U18s this season, and there will be some names there you’ve probably heard of – even Shim Mheuka is technically an U16! Hopefully we get to see some of these guys play tonight, or be involved from the bench, which will be extremely important with the game potentially going to extra-time and penalties…
As I said before, 10 of the players have been regulars in the run-in, and I expect those to start: Kai Crampton, Joseph Wheeler-Henry, Tayo Subuloye, Saheed Olagunju, Genesis Antwi, Landon Emenalo, Ollie Harrison, Frankie Runham, Ryan McAidoo & Rio Ngumoha. That 11th man should be Shim Mheuka, assuming he’s fit to start after getting 30 minutes on the weekend after over two months out, but you could still easily see Shaun Wade (who captained the side against Spurs) or Leo Cardoso (if fit) start for the Blues. Either way, the lineup will have some top players and with the football Sulaiman wants his side playing, we could be in for a few goals…
Defense
Antwi, the English/Swedish international, has been featuring for the U18s as of late, and has really impressed me. He’s a powerful runner who’s really comfortable on the ball, and despite being a right-back, has succeeded immensely at left-back with Harrison Murray-Campbell playing on the right hand side.
I’ve watched Subuloye and Olagunju properly once, when they both started for the U18s against Aston Villa at Cobham in the League, and I was very impressed by both. Saheed was the best player on the pitch on my opinion, making some brilliant tackles while showing quality on the ball, and Tayo fitted in seamlessly as an U16.
Midfield
Landon, son of former Chelsea Director of Football Michael Emenalo, is a small midfielder who has also played at left-back, but has been complemented brilliantly by the newly signed scholar Ollie Harrison from Newcastle. Both players will keep the ball moving, always be an option and have a great switch of play and long ball on them to get the forwards involved as quickly as possible.
Frankie Runham, who has been deployed across the whole front three this season for the U18s, will most likely be in his natural 10 position tonight. With scarily similar physique and looks to Mykhailo Mudryk, he’s got an extremely powerful shot and knows where the back of the net is. He’ll be looking to get on the scoresheet tonight for sure.
Forwards
Rio Ngumoha’s name has started to spread around social media, and understandably so with footage of his game getting shared around. He’s an outstanding dribbler, one of the trickest wingers in his age group to face in the country, and has an eye for goal too. A few clips of his play at the U16 tournament was shared by TheSecretScout, and it’s encouraging to say the least.
He’s featured a few times for the U18s, with his debut consisting of a game-changing substitute cameo where he scored and assisted to help Chelsea comeback against Southampton. Other clubs are keeping an eye on the talent, but he’s enjoying his football here and tonight’s a great chance for him to show what he’s about.
Shim Mheuka is someone who can win you games on his own at this level. He seems physically too strong for some U18 defenders at times, which is pretty astonishing for a 16-year-old, so it’ll be exciting to see what he can do against U17s and U16s, assuming he’s fit. He’s a huge presence, is absolutely frightening to play against and knows how to find the back of the net with quick and composed feet in the box.
Ryan McAidoo scored a beauty against Manchester City in the semis, and has been a real breakthrough this season. Me and @chelseayouth spoke in detail on the London is Blue podcast about Ryan, as well as other players and the importance of bringing trophies back to Cobham, so go and listen to that – the episode was released yesterday!
Those are just three forwards I’ve picked out randomly too. Leo Cardoso, Shaun Wade, Kobe Barbour, Sol Gordon & Yahya Idrissi could all feature too, and any forward’s impact from the bench may well be needed, especially with this final potentially going to Extra-Time and Penalties.
Wolves
I don’t know too much about Wolves, but I think it’ll just be extremely important to not underestimate them and to treat them as we would anyone else. It could be easy to see that we’re not facing a team like Spurs or Manchester City and assume we’re favourites, but they’ve reached the final for a reason, and if anything, Chelsea’s recent exits in the FA Youth Cup to Nottingham Forest, Cambridge United and Milwall have shown that anyone’s capable of anything at this level.
Their road to the final has included games against Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers, Everton, Leicester and Stoke – there are some really good sides in there. While I don’t know too much about the opposition, two members who are likely to feature tonight have made their first team bench this season: Wes Okoduwa and Emilio Ballard-Matthews. Players to keep an eye out for.
Time to bring the trophy back home
Me and Phil (@chelseayouth) spoke about it on the most recent Cobham Crew episode, but the academy has had such a good season and bringing a trophy home already would be the beginning of what could be a special end to the football year.
We haven’t won a trophy in a couple years at the U17s level and above, so while the first team are struggling in mid-table positions and fumbling finals after spending a billion pounds and trying to get rid of every single homegrown product, in-house silverware would be a sweet reminder of where some of the best work at the club takes place.
We’ve got this one, the U18s are top of the league with three games in hand, and the U21s are in the semi-finals for the Premier League Cup while recently qualifying for the PL2 Playoffs. Win tonight, and it could kickstart everything.
7pm Kick-Off. Chelsea U17s vs Wolves U17s. Premier League Cup Final.
Broadcasted on the Fifth Stand for free globally. Tune in and support the boys. Up the Chels.
Please do let me know what you thought of this article by sending me a message on my social media platforms, or sharing this with as many people as you know! Got any questions? Send them over to myself or The Chelsea Spot...see you tonight!
(Here’s just a couple random pictures from U18 fixtures I’ve watched this season for absolutely no reason)
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