Mark Robinson believes his Chelsea Under-21s side will face a very different type of challenge when we take on Celtic in the Premier League International Cup from the one which ended in a 2-1 loss at Liverpool last time out.

The Premier League International Cup continues this evening as Chelsea Under-21s take to the pitch at Kingsmeadow for our penultimate fixture of the group stage. Scottish side Celtic will be the visitors.

Kick-off is at 7pm UK time and you can watch that match live on the Official Chelsea App, complete with enhanced stats and event tracking from MVX, built with Infinite Athlete.

A victory would take the Blues within one point of the top two and a guaranteed spot in the quarter-finals.

Robinson knows we will face a tough task as our opponents, like many of the sides we have faced in this competition, are used to playing at a senior level. However, that won’t stop him from maximising our chances of progressing and going into the Christmas break on the back of a good result and improved performance.

‘We know playing Celtic will be a different challenge to the ones we have faced in our last couple of matches because they play ‘B’ team football in a men’s league,’ said Robinson. ‘But a win in this game would put us right back in with a great chance of progressing in this competition.

‘We want to put in a good performance so we can go into Christmas in a great place in as many competitions as possible.

‘Going into Sunday’s game at Liverpool, we emphasised the need for us to build our style and rhythm of play. We felt that we’d been good in games this year but we hadn't sustained it, so we really wanted to put together a 90-minute performance. It will be the same again.

‘We have changed formation recently to accommodate the players we have available to us and settling into that is important too. ‘

Looking back at that last match against Liverpool in the Under-21 Premier League on Sunday, it seems clear that ensuring we maintain our level of performance over the full 90 minutes remains a priority for Robinson, as a promising start was undone in the second half.

Having failed to take our chances, we fell behind shortly after the break and although we equalised through Dylan Williams, a last-minute goal condemned us to defeat against the Reds.

‘Our play in the first half-hour was probably as good as anything I’ve seen since I’ve been at the club,’ Robinson continued. ‘The rhythm was great, rotation was excellent and everything was done with such sharpness. They couldn’t get near us.

‘The only downside was that we had three or four glorious opportunities that we didn’t take, which I feel would have put the game beyond them given the way we were playing during that period.

‘But five minutes into the second half, we gave the ball away in our build-up play and they cut through us too easily to score.

‘We came back into it, though, and scored a good equaliser a few minutes later with a move in transition. We knew that, if we broke quickly in those situations when we won the ball off them, we could hurt them, and that’s what we did on that occasion.

'We broke up play, then Leo Castledine broke forward quickly and found Dylan on the run forward from the full-back position, and he finished really well.

‘I hoped we’d kick on, but the game was very even from that point onwards. There weren’t many good chances and it looked like it would end 1-1, but in the end we got punished again when we gave the ball away playing out from the back.’

He isn’t focusing too much on the negatives, though, instead seeing plenty in the opening stages of that game for his side to build on against Celtic this evening.

‘We have got to look at the positives and there were certainly things to build on, because our football for much of the first half was as cohesive as we’ve been all season. We have now got to develop that because they had no answers to what we were doing in those first 30 minutes.

‘The boys have just got to find that relentlessness to maintain those dominant periods and capitalise on the chances we create.’

Where to watch the live stream

The match will be available to watch on the Official Chelsea App, complete with enhanced stats and event tracking from MVX, built by Infinite Athlete. The stream is available globally and is priced at £1.99.

Liverpool 2-1 Chelsea

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Eddie Beach; Brodi Hughes, Alfie Gilchrist (c), Billy Gee, Dylan Williams; Kiano Dyer, Alex Matos (Michael Golding 78); Deivid Washington (Ishe Samuels-Smith 69), Leo Castledine, Zain Silcott-Duberry (Tyrique George 69); Jimmy-Jay Morgan (Samuel Rak-Sakyi 78)
Unused sub: Max Merrick
Scorer: Williams 54
Booked: Castledine 13, Gilchrist 36

Liverpool (4-3-3): Marcelo Pitaluga, Terence McLaughlin-Miles, Calum Scanlon, Thomas Hill (Bobby Clark 78), Carter Pinnington, Luke Chambers, Mateusz Musialowski, Tommy Pilling, Paul Glatzel, Ben Doak (Jay Spearing 28), Harvey Blair (Oakley Cannonier 66)
Unused subs: Oscar Kelly, Francis Gyimah
Scorers: Glatzel 49, Clark 90
Booked: Chambers 6, Musialowski 90+4