Match Preview

It looked as though the final weekend of November would be an empty one for the men's side, with Ebbsfleet United reaching Round Two of the FA Cup and hosting League One side Fleetwood Town on Sunday.

It also looked like we were facing the prospect of having no home game on a Saturday between the Hampton & Richmond Borough game on November 5th and the visit of Concord Rangers on December 17th. Saturday games are hugely profitable for the club, as gate receipts and bar takings on these days are how we make the majority of our money during the season. So a decision was made to find a friendly match for this Saturday, and against an attractive name too.

Fortunately, Paul Barnes is good friends with former AFC Wimbledon manager Mark Robinson, who took up the position of Head Coach of the Chelsea Development Squad during the summer, and arranged for their Under 21s to come down to Champion Hill to face our first team. Paul will be able to use the game with Chelsea to look at some recent acquisitions, with former Charlton midfielder Johl Powell, ex-AFC Wimbledon keeper Aaron Jones, and on-loan defender Temi Eweka all arriving at the club in the last week. It will also give Barnsey to look at a few trialists, and potentially ease a few first team players back from injury, a list that is longer than a child's at Christmas.

The Blues have had a strong start to their league season, sitting in fourth in Division 1 of the Premier League 2, having picked up five wins and five draws from their opening 12 games. This early-season form has left them three points behind leaders Arsenal.

Robinson's side have also enjoyed huge success in the EFL Trophy, as they first advanced to the knockout stage by topping a group containing the first teams of Sutton United, Oxford United and Leyton Orient. Then, on Tuesday night, they produced an excellent 4-2 win against Peterborough United to reach the last-16, the only academy side from the southern section to reach that stage.

Amongst the Chelsea ranks today will be several players with first-team experience, including Lewis Hall, who has appeared against Manchester City and Newcastle United in the last few weeks, Omari Hutchinson, who has played for the full Jamaica national side this year, and Jude Soonsup-Bell, who played in the Carabao Cup for Chelsea last season.