RESERVES LIVE TODAY ON CHELSEA TV

Chelsea reserves return to action this afternoon, looking to avenge last week's 1-0 defeat at Arsenal.

The sides meet again at Cobham today, and Chelsea coach Steve Holland is looking for an improvement from his side in today's 2.05pm kick-off.

'I didn't think we played particularly well, a combination maybe of one or two playing for the first time in a long time, and a few others playing for the first time in a fairly long time,' he joked, referring to the period between November and late January in which his side had seen no competitive action.

'Having said that I didn't think their penalty last week was a penalty,' Holland continued, 'so even playing as we did, we possibly could have got something from the game. Hopefully we'll be in better shape this week but in terms of positives, I think that was Michael Woods's first start in 18 months and he got through 80 minutes or so, that's a plus for him, and Adam Phillip started as well, and he hasn't started many games either.'

Holland expects a youthful look to his side this afternoon, with the first team having played at Sunderland last night, and several reserve regulars having made temporary moves elsewhere until the end of the season.

'The last time we played at Cobham was against Tottenham in early January in a 7-3 win, when Sturridge, Kakuta, Van Aanholt and Mellis all figured, players that aren't now here because of loans, so this will be a different team that gives opportunities to younger ones,' he explained.

'For example, Aziz Deen-Conteh will now get more opportunities at left-back having not played as much because Patrick van Aanholt is at Leicester, and so on and so forth.

'Milan Lalkovic will play more regularly too, so there will be chances.'

It was Lalkovic who knocked the Gunners out of the FA Youth Cup with an impressive double just under a fortnight ago.

'Milan has always had a great enthusiasm for playing. His physical output in that Youth Cup game was outstanding, not just the goals but his contribution as a whole,' Holland said. 'We didn't want to play him last week because his body was still recovering and we have to be careful.

'The reserves have a game a week now until the end of the season, and if the Youth Cup run continues then there could be an extra half-dozen games for them, and we only have a small group of young players that will play in both competitions, but he will be available this week.'

Despite the pressures on these talented youngsters, Holland sees it as a positive to have regular league football after a quiet period.

'When the players train during the week, the focus is always to transfer it into a game at the end of the week, so without a game the training can see the lads lose their focus a bit, so now it's great to have regular games,' he said, 'but that has to be balanced by saying we're fairly stretched at the moment in terms of having players available.'

Whoever plays this afternoon they will be desperate to beat their local rivals and get back to winning ways after two league games without victory.

You can see the game live on Chelsea TV and CTV Online from 2pm.

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With the number of players we have out on loan, I don't fancy our chances. Wonder if Josh will play?

Sure the club know what they are doing but I can't help feeling he'd be better off playing a few reserve matches rather than sitting on the bench keeping Carlo company. If one Mikel or Ramires are on the bench with him (which they invariably are), he stands little chance of getting on and if he ain't playing, he ain't gonna develop!

Edited February 2, 201115 yr by Nibs

Here's your answer:

Chelsea 1-0 down at half time after having much the better of the game. Their goal, which I think was their first shot of the half, came a couple of minutes before the break following a slip by Josh McEachran, who has otherwise had an excellent game. Chelsea had much the better of possession and the better chances, coming closest with an Adam Philp header against the post.

We've continued to dominate in the second half, playing much the better football and having nearly all the play. Connor Clifford equalised with a great strike, and in the 64th minute Milan Lalkovic slid in from close range to put Chelsea into the lead from a Billy Clifford cross.

Edited February 2, 201115 yr by Hutch

In the 92nd minute Freeman pops up out of the blue to smash in the Arsenal equaliser.

Final score 2-2. Very good performance, disappointing result.

The 92'nd minute goal was something special to be fair.

Nice one cheers for updates on this...