Tony Carr is looking forward to West Ham United Under-18s taking on Chelsea Under-18s at Little Heath this weekend.
The Academy side drew 0-0 at home to Crystal Palace last Saturday and Carr is expecting another difficult derby encounter. "Chelsea at home will be a good test for us. "Every game is a challenge for the players and it is all part and parcel of improving as a team and as players. We will take a lot of positives into the game. This is our last game for a fortnight as we have got a free weekend coming up."
Carr will hope for another strong defensive showing, having been delighted with the way his rearguard coped with a physical Palace team last time out. Goals against from set-pieces had been a feature of the early games this season, so he was particularly content with a clean sheet. "The only time Palace really threatended was at set-plays.
"They were a big powerful team but the defence held firm and Adam Street was not really called upon to make any spectacular saves. We have been conceding set-pieces. We have changed our priorities on marking now and we dealt with what they threw at us quite well. I was pleased with that and hopefully we can take that on."
Saturday's visitors Chelsea are coming off the back of a 4-3 home defeat by Southampton, who will be the next opponents for Carr's side after this weekend. Following the break, West Ham United will make the trip to the south coast to face the Saints - always strong at this level - on Saturday 1 November. The kick-off against Chelsea is 11am.