The pressure on the Chelsea Academy to walk in the footsteps of those that have gone before them must be intense – but graduate Nathaniel Chalobah is backing the class of 2017 to continue the club’s proud FA Youth Cup tradition.
This season Chelsea are bidding for a fourth straight FA Youth Cup success and a sixth triumph in eight years.
But if those in the Chelsea Academy are feeling the pressure then they certainly are not showing it, having dispatched Cardiff City and Birmingham City in the competition so far, winning 5-0 on both occasions.
One current Chelsea first team player who knows what it takes to win the competition is Chalobah, with the midfielder captain when the Blues won in 2012 with a 4-1 victory over Blackburn Rovers.
And the 22-year-old is adamant the current crop of starlets has what it takes to keep Chelsea top of the pile.
“I was so happy when we won it and the challenge for all the boys coming up is that they don’t want to be the ones to not win it,” he said.
“It is difficult because you get one game in a lot of the rounds and there is a bit of pressure, but our Academy is fantastic and we have some top boys there so going into the games, if we do what we do best and on the day things are all right, we usually get a good result.”
Despite being at Chelsea since 2005, it was only this season that Chalobah made his first team debut with manager Antonio Conte bringing him off the bench in a 4-2 EFL Cup victory over Leicester City back in September.
Before that he had enjoyed loan spells with Napoli, Reading, Burnley, Middlesbrough, Nottingham Forest and Watford, but has since made 11 Chelsea appearances and is seemingly in Conte’s plans.
But despite his eclectic career to date, Chalobah admits his FA Youth Cup successes still live long in the memory.
“For us at the time, as youth team player, the FA Youth Cup was like our Champions League,” he added.
“We wanted to show we had the best youth team in the country and the important thing was winning it.
“What helped was that the team the previous year had gone close and the team the year before that had won it. I had played in the semis and lost so the next year I really wanted to win it. That was the motivation behind it.
“I had the armband and I thought it would be a good feeling to lift the trophy, especially as some of the lads had been at the club a long time, so it would be a special moment.”
FA Youth Cup history
Chelsea are not only the holders but are going in search of a fourth straight title. They have also featured in seven of the last nine finals, winning five of them.
Sheffield Wednesday’s best result was reaching the final in 1991, however they were beaten 3-0 by Millwall.
One to watch
Mason Mount has been handed the captain’s armband this season by manager Jody Morris and the 18-year-old has repaid that faith by scoring the first goal in each of their FA Youth Cup ties so far.
A fine strike against Birmingham was followed by two more, a clever free-kick and a left-foot drive from distance that flew into the top corner, as he went on to complete his hat-trick.
Did you know?
Chelsea have won all of their last seven FA Youth Cup fifth round ties, scoring 21 goals in the process and conceding just five.
The closest they were pushed was back in 2011-12 when they drew 3-3 with West Ham before winning 4-2 on penalties.
The prize
A trip to either Middlesbrough or Leicester City in the quarter-finals awaits the winner.
