Barclays U21 Premier League 2016: Wednesday Result, Latest Table and Fixtures
Chelsea under-21s injected some much-needed energy into their Premier League campaign on Wednesday evening, when five different scorers led them to a 5-0 hammering of struggling Norwich City.
Reece Mitchell, Jordan Houghton, Kasey Palmer, Dion Conroy and Fikayo Tomori all got in on the act as the Blues thundered past the Canaries to pick up their third win in four Under-21 Premier League games.
Tammy Abraham impressed for the west Londoners but couldn't find his shooting boots, and it was in fact a more defensively minded bunch who led the team to its latest success.
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Read on for a breakdown of Wednesday's sole under-21 clash as Chelsea continue to turn their hopes around, complete with a look at the updated Under-21 Premier League Division 1 standings and upcoming fixtures.
| 1 | Manchester Uni… | 14 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 34 | 11 | +23 | 34 |
| 2 | Sunderland U21 | 15 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 28 | 11 | +17 | 32 |
| 3 | Everton U21 | 14 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 23 | 18 | +5 | 23 |
| 4 | Manchester Cit… | 14 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 25 | 19 | +6 | 21 |
| 5 | Reading U21 | 16 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 25 | 28 | -3 | 21 |
| 6 | Tottenham Hots… | 16 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 33 | 34 | -1 | 20 |
| 7 | Chelsea U21 | 12 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 24 | 20 | +4 | 18 |
| 8 | Liverpool U21 | 14 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 16 | 23 | -7 | 15 |
| 9 | Southampton U21 | 14 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 22 | 31 | -9 | 15 |
| 10 | Middlesbrough U21 | 12 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 20 | 18 | +2 | 13 |
| 11 | Norwich City U21 | 15 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 18 | 36 | -18 | 12 |
| 12 | Leicester City U21 | 14 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 17 | 36 | -19 | 12 |
| Thursday, Feb. 18 | 7 p.m. GMT/2 p.m. ET | 1 | Liverpool vs. Middlesbrough |
| Saturday, Feb. 20 | 1 p.m. GMT/8 a.m. ET | 1 | Manchester City vs. Manchester United |
| Saturday, Feb. 20 | 2 p.m. GMT/9 a.m. ET | 2 | Stoke City vs. West Bromwich Albion |
Recap
Manager Adi Viveash could hardly have asked for more from his defence on Wednesday evening as it romped to a goalscoring run while keeping a clean sheet against 11th-placed Norwich City.
It took only 12 minutes for Mitchell and Houghton to fire the hosts into a 2-0 lead, but Chelsea were then made to wait until the second period before they could start adding to that tally.
On the 54-minute mark, Palmer snapped up an Abraham rebound with ease to make it 3-0, and substitute Conroy showed a great deal of confidence to come out of defence before wrapping his effort into the bottom corner.
Conroy's goal was eerie in its nature, considering the centre-back tweeted his horoscope just hours prior to kick-off, noting that he wasn't feeling like his normally "optimistic self":
"You're not feeling like your optimistic self while pleasure-s... More for Sagittarius https://t.co/X9QtL96kOl
— Dion Conroy (@dionjc95) February 17, 2016"
His on-pitch performance certainly suggested the contrary, and fellow centre-back substitute Tomori eventually joined him on the score hunt with an impressive volley late on.
Chelsea Youth took note of just how much influence the team's defence is having in the goal contribution recently:
Chelsea are still a substantial 16 points from leaders Manchester United, but the Blues have played the joint-fewest games (12) and are starting to enjoy good form.
Meanwhile, Norwich are without a win in four and remain joint-bottom of the Under-21 Premier League table, with a relegation scrap in sight.
