KNOW YOUR

We’ve played Arsenal’s young guns here in pre-season before and of course West Ham’s on several occasions too. Today we can add Chelsea to that list as their U21s make the trip to Kent for our final pre-season friendly. We have entertained Chelsea XIs in pre-season friendlies in years gone by but this is the first clash for a good few years and follows in the footsteps of the Chelsea Women’s Academy who played against our women’s team this time last year.

As Dennis Kutrieb mentioned in his programme notes, Chelsea’s players are likely to be a little younger than West Ham’s – but don’t let that lull you into a false sense of security. Many of them were involved with the team that finished above West Ham in the Premier League 2 last season.

Among the visitors this afternoon is likely to be new signing Alex Matos who moved from Norwich City earlier this month and there are a host of youth internationals for the Blues here today.