England’s Under 21’s looked unstoppable in their 6-1 demolition of Norway on Tuesday night, as the young Lions look to secure themselves a place in next summer’s Under-21 European Championships in Poland. In truth it was Marcus Rashford’s hat-trick that stole the show, but Chelsea fans will be happier and far more excited to hear how the other three goals were shared between Blues trio Nathaniel Chalobah, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Lewis Baker.
England have picked up where they left things off in the summer, as they continue with the same great form that lead them to their impressive Toulon Tournament triumph – A squad that also included Kasey Palmer and then Chelsea hopeful John Swift, who left the Bridge for Reading this summer.
Aside from Rashford’s brilliant hat-trick, the Chelsea boys all scored very good goals in theirown right, with Chalobah’s expertly executed volley at the back post, Loftus-Cheek’s inch-perfect, sweeping finish from the edge of the box and Bakers cleverly crafted run getting him on the end of a corner for him to brilliantly guide it into the far corner.
The three Chelsea starlets were England’s top players in the Toulon tournament; with Loftus-Cheek winning the award for best player; Chalobah winning the third best player award and Baker being awarded for being the tournament’s top scorer they are now some of the first names on Southgate’s team sheet.
England appeared to adopt a 4-2-3-1 formation to begin with, putting Loftus-Cheek in the number ten position, Baker to his left and Chalobah sitting in behind; though Redmond’s natural width and Rashford’s tendency to drift out to the flank often meant that Loftus-Cheek was the furthest man forward, and saw Baker drifting in to his preferred, central role as a result.
Chelsea’s young lions have a brilliant level of understanding between them – they have clearly benefitted from coming through the same academy at the same time – and it is the England’s U21 side that is currently reaping the rewards, but this experience playing together now could be great for their chances in Chelsea’s first team in the near future, especially seeing as Steve Holland has an important role as an assistant on both Gareth Southgate and Antonio Conte’s bench.
Last year saw Loftus-Cheek make his step-up to the first team; this season looks promising for Chalobah as he has stayed with Chelsea instead of going out on loan and it is clear to see that Conte is identifying which of Chelsea’s academy graduates he trusts to step up and be the future of the club.
Baker had already been loaned back to Vitesse when Conte was appointed as head coach, but he is one of those players that will be hoping for a crack at the Chelsea first team next year, and already having a partnership in place with current members of the squad will do his chances a world of good.
Whilst it’s perhaps a little early to get excited about just yet, all three players have incredible potential, and if they continue to develop their own games and their partnership together, we could , just maybe, be witnessing the start of the future of Chelsea’s midfield.
