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Match Report:
**Villa fell to a first Under-18 Premier League defeat of the season on Saturday afternoon, losing 6-1 at the hands of a strong Chelsea outfit.**
After a league win over Brighton & Hove Albion was followed up by a Premier League Cup victory at Liverpool, Richard Beale’s Young Lions found themselves up against a Blues side in unstoppable form at their Cobham training base.
Hassan Sulaiman’s side took a commanding 2-0 lead into the half-time break, thanks to goals from Sol Gordon and Lewi Richards, which was added to within three minutes of the restart thanks to Olutayo Subuloye.
Richards’ second was responded to with a penalty from Jack McGrath to reduce the arrears, but further goals from Ibrahim Rabbaj and Chizaram Ezentwata completed the scoring on a tricky afternoon for the Villans.
Dominant throughout, Chelsea took the lead on 20 minutes, Gordon racing onto a long ball over the top and keeping his cool when one on one with Rhys Oakley to hand the hosts the advantage.
For all Chelsea’s control, it looked as though Villa would be able to hold their hosts to taking just a one-goal lead into the half-time break, right up until first-half stoppage time when their second goal arrived.
Oakley beat Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli’s effort away, though the visitors could not quite manage to clear their lines inside the area, allowing Richards to smash past the Villa stopper and double his side’s lead.
And within three minutes of the restart, things went from bad to worse for the Young Lions when a Chelsea corner was headed back across goal, allowing Subuloye to nod home unmarked from the edge of the six-yard box.
The second period had almost reached its midway point when Chelsea had their fourth, courtesy again of Richards, whose corner looped all the way in off the underside of the crossbar following a mix-up on the goalline between Oakley and Junior Wilson.
Villa were handed a lifeline three minutes later when Finlay Barnard was brought to ground inside the area on a surge into the box, and referee Joel Lamping pointed to the spot.
McGrath stepped up and sent Freddy Bernal in the Chelsea goal confidently the wrong way, to get Beale’s boys on the board.
But Villa’s optimism was short-lived. Another two minutes had elapsed when Ezenwata stepped up and bent a menacing free-kick off Oakley’s left-hand post. Still, before Villa could do anything about clearing the loose ball, Rabbaj had followed in to steer into the gaping net and put the Blues 5-1 to the good.
And six minutes of normal time remained when Villa’s miserable afternoon was compounded, with the hosts awarded a spot-kick of their own when Jacob Green felled Ezenwata in the area.
The Chelsea No.9 dusted himself down to take the penalty and, despite Oakley diving the right way, found the bottom corner to complete his side’s work.

2025-26 u18 Premier League Appearance & Goal Record
GK Rhys Oakley | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 2025-26 u18PL 🕒 1 | ✅ 1 | 🔁 0 | 🥅 6 | ⛔ 0 | 🇺1 |
RB Clay Atkins | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 2025-26 u18PL 🕒 1 | ✅ 1 | 🔁 0 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺0 |
CB Junior Wilson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 2025-26 u18PL 🕒 2 | ✅ 2 | 🔁 0 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺0 |
CB Farid Addey | 🇸🇪 | 2025-26 u18PL 🕒 2 | ✅ 2 | 🔁 0 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺0 |
LB Finlay Barnard | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 2025-26 u18PL 🕒 2 | ✅ 2 | 🔁 0 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺0 |
LB Harry Pinnell | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 2025-26 u18PL 🕒 2 | ✅ 1 | 🔁 1 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺0 |
DM Woody Burgess | 🇩🇪 | 2025-26 u18PL 🕒 2 | ✅ 2 | 🔁 0 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 1 | 🇺0 |
CM Oliver Bindley | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 2025-26 u18PL 🕒 2 | ✅ 1 | 🔁 1 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺0 |
AM Jack McGrath | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 2025-26 u18PL 🕒 2 | ✅ 2 | 🔁 0 | ⚽ 1 | 🔥 0 | 🇺0 |
GK Owen Asemota | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 2025-26 u18PL 🕒 1 | ✅ 1 | 🔁 0 | 🥅 0 | ⛔ 1 | 🇺0 |
F Vinnie Hayward | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 2025-26 u18PL 🕒 2 | ✅ 2 | 🔁 0 | ⚽ 1 | 🔥 0 | 🇺0 |
LB Teddie Bloomfield | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 2025-26 u18PL 🕒 1 | ✅ 1 | 🔁 0 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺0 |
CF Markie Meade | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 2025-26 u18PL 🕒 1 | ✅ 1 | 🔁 0 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺0 |
RB Jacob Green | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 2025-26 u18PL 🕒 1 | ✅ 0 | 🔁 1 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺0 |
AM Josh Blake | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 2025-26 u18PL 🕒 1 | ✅ 0 | 🔁 1 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺0 |
AM Jahmi Kellyman | 🇬🇧 | 2025-26 u18PL 🕒 1 | ✅ 0 | 🔁 1 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺1 |
CM Lennon Melhuish | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 2025-26 u18PL 🕒 2 | ✅ 0 | 🔁 2 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺0 |
GK Theo Houston | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 2025-26 u18PL 🕒 0 | ✅ 0 | 🔁 0 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺1 |
AM Max Jenner | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 2025-26 u18PL 🕒 1 | ✅ 1 | 🔁 0 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺0 |
W Alfie Lynskey | 🇮🇪 | 2025-26 u18PL 🕒 1 | ✅ 1 | 🔁 0 | ⚽ 1 | 🔥 0 | 🇺0 |
CF Rio Hammond | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 2025-26 u18PL 🕒 1 | ✅ 1 | 🔁 0 | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺0 |