Spurs’ Under 23 side get their season underway on Monday night, when they host Chelsea at Stevenage’s Lamex Stadium (the game starts at 19:00pm). Wayne Burnett’s side had a good pre-season, winning three, drawing one and losing one from five friendly matches, and they’ll go into this London derby with Chelsea in good confidence. Since centre-forward Kion Etete joined League Two side Northampton Town on loan Spurs now have only two recognised centre-forward’s at Academy level (Dane Scarlett and Jamie Donley). Although I would imagine that Dane Scarlett will get a lot of minutes for the Under 23’s this season despite his first team involvement. I also wouldn’t be surprised if first year Academy player Jamie Donley also got minutes for the Under 23 side this season. Last season Spurs lost both of their Premier League 2 meetings with Chelsea, who ended up finishing as runners up to Manchester City in Division One last season, four points above of third place Spurs. With players like George McEachran, Thierno Ballo and Jude Soonsup-Bell all potentially involved against Spurs on Monday, it will no doubt be a difficult game for Wayne Burnett’s side. However, if we perform like we did last season then we’ve got a real chance of getting a good result in the opening game of our season. I will be travelling to Stevenage on Monday to report on the match. I would like to wish Spurs all the very best of luck for the game and for the season.

My predicted lineup: (4-2-3-1) Oluwayemi, Paskotši, Muir, Fagan-Walcott, Lavinier, Lyons-Foster (c), John, Markanday, Devine, Bennett, Scarlett.

Subs from: Lo-Tutala, Cesay, Michael Craig, Pedder, Robson.

Injured/unavailable: N/A.

Doubtful: N/A.

Previous meeting: 1-4.

My score prediction: Spurs 2-1.

My one to watch: Thierno Ballo (19). The Austria Under 21 international is a forward, and he was directly involved in ten goals (seven goals and three assists) from 21 Premier League 2 appearances for Chelsea last season.