Red Devil Vs Blues: Solskjaer Compares Chelsea Youngsters To Man United’s

• United beat Chelsea 4-0 at Old Trafford on an opening day, but Solskjaer admits that it was not a true reflection of the contest and expects another difficult game against Lampard’s side who are on a run of seven straight wins.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admits that Chelsea’s youngsters are ahead of Manchester United’s as they prepare to meet in the Carabao Cup at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.

Solskjaer and Frank Lampard have both focused on youth this season the United boss because he has chosen to recruit more heavily from the club’s academy, and Lampard because of Chelsea’s transfer ban.

While the Londoners can turn to the likes of Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount who have extensive first-team experience out on loan in recent seasons, Solskjaer accepts that his kids are still finding their feet at the senior level.

‘Chelsea is a very exciting team,’ he said. ‘Frank has got players that have been on loan for one or two seasons in the Championship. The difference between my youngsters is that they are almost stepping right now onto the scene.

‘Axel Tuanzebe has missed the last couple of games, but he has been out on loan (at Aston Villa last season) and you can see the benefit. I think Chelsea’s young players benefit from that now. They are a mature young team.’

Solskjaer admits that it has been a big challenge for young players like Mason Greenwood, Tahith Chong, Angel Gomes, James Garner and Brandon Williams to step into the first-team as United have struggled at the start of the season, but he believes they will benefit from the experience.

‘Character will be revealed in tough times, but I think the young kids have been excellent,’ added the United boss. ‘I can’t give them any more responsibility and I couldn’t be any happier with many of the youngsters.

‘We know it’s been tough, and we know that we have asked a lot of them because Paul (Pogba), Luke (Shaw), Anthony (Martial) and loads of other players have been injured. The youngsters have stepped up in a difficult period. But in the end, they will be stronger for it.’

Asked if Garner and Williams will face Chelsea after starting against Partizan Belgrade in Serbia last week, Solskjaer said: ‘I would think so. Jimmy played 10-15 minutes (against Norwich) and was excellent. He calmed us down and made some good decisions when we wanted to see the game out. We have not made a decision on who is going to play, but you will probably see the two of them.’

United beat Chelsea 4-0 at Old Trafford on an opening day, but Solskjaer admits that it was not a true reflection of the contest and expects another difficult game against Lampard’s side who are on a run of seven straight wins.

He said: ‘I think Frank has done a good job because the performance against us was good. The result was bad. We held our hands up then as well and said 4-0 was flattering.

‘We got pegged back and they pressed us but we scored two goals within a minute, the second and third, which decided the game for us. But we didn’t think we were 4-0 better than them. It is going to be an interesting game. We don’t make it easy for ourselves in the cups with the draws.’