Two goals inside 11 minutes – by Dominic Solanke and Charlie Colkett from the penalty spot – put us firmly in control of the contest, and three more first-half strikes all but ended the game as a contest before the break.

Maribor’s cause wasn’t helped when they had Luka Uskokovic dismissed in the second half for a second bookable offence, and late strikes by substitutes Alex Kiwomya and Tammy Abraham compounded their misery.

We lead second-placed Schalke by six points, and the German side are our next opponents, away from home, at the end of this month.

TEAM NEWS

Having made his debut for the first team a week ago at Shrewsbury, Andreas Christensen started for Adi Viveash’s Under-19s as the central figure in a three-man defence. Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Charlie Colkett and Charly Musonda, so effective in the last away game against Sporting Lisbon, retained their places, with the width provided by Jay Dasilva and Ola Aina. Izzy Brown captained the side and partnered Dominic Solanke in attack.



First half

The Blues began the game well and almost broke the deadlock inside the opening five minutes. Colkett’s free-kick deflected off the wall and fell into the path of Solanke, who flicked the ball back to Christensen. The Dane fired powerfully towards goal and forced a fantastic save from Maribor ’keeper Damjan Prineg.

Moments later, however, we weren’t to be denied, and Solanke will seldom, if ever, have scored an easier goal.

As the ball was played back to Prineg, the goalkeeper failed to find a proper connection on the clearance, and sliced it straight to the feet of the Chelsea striker, who took one touch to bring it under control and then fired into the back of the net.

From our next attack we were awarded a penalty as Loftus-Cheek, racing on to a loose ball, was scythed down inside the box by defender Luka Uskokovic.

Colkett, like in Lisbon, was entrusted with taking the kick, and just like in Lisbon, the midfielder made no mistake, calmly rolling the ball into the bottom corner to make it 2-0.

The home side were struggling to get out of their half as the Blues took control of the contest and Solanke went close to adding a third, driving wide from a tight angle.