Chelsea's Under-19 team kick-started their Uefa Youth League title defence with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv at Cobham on Wednesday afternoon.
The game was played just hours before Chelsea's first-team take on the Israeli club in their Champions League Group G opener at Stamford Bridge, and Kasey Palmer proved the key man after scoring twice in the match.
The midfielder gave the Blues the lead with his 20th-minute effort and then made it 2-0 after the break before Tammy Abraham scored the third goal of the clash soon after.
Coach Adi Viveash had said before the game that Palmer needed to step up to the team after losing the likes of Charly Musonda and Jeremie Boga, and the midfielder certainly did not let the boss down.
The victory ensures Chelsea's Under-19 side are on track to reach the final in Nyon next year where they will attempt to clinch the Uefa Youth League trophy for the second successive year following their 3-2 win over Shakhtar Donetsk in the final in April.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">In come the players after a fine victory for <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CFCU19?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-2949061-https://twitter.com/hashtag/CFCU19?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#CFCU19</a>... <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://t.co/KNWSAITirY" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-2949061-https://t.co/KNWSAITirY" data-vars-event-id="c23">https://t.co/KNWSAITirY</a> — Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/ChelseaFC/status/644150192795721728" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-2949061-https://twitter.com/ChelseaFC/status/644150192795721728" data-vars-event-id="c23">September 16, 2015</a>
The team will play Porto next before facing Dynamo Kiev in October - fixtures that mirror the first-team's matches in the Champions League group stages this season.
