Chelsea football chief Frank Arnesen is delighted to see the club's youngsters reach the FA Youth Cup final against Aston Villa.

"As well as the results, I like the way we have been playing," Arnesen, who has overall responsibility for youth development, told Chelsea's website. "We have discussed the best shape for development and we have gone with 4-3-3 which is not the easiest way to play, but you have players all over the pitch and you can play out from your defence.

"You can see we have made the combination of winning and playing good football.

"It is a great experience playing on the bigger stage in a competition environment where if you lose, you are out, so there is a lot of pressure the players are putting on themselves and the coaches as well, which is always good for the development.

"It is very interesting to see how they have dealt with that and I think they have done better and better from the first game."

Arnesen added: "We are scoring goals - 4-0, 3-1, 5-2 and now 1-1 - and they have been scored by the attacking players, Stoch, Nielsen, Kakuta, Philip.

"Stoch is the oldest but he has done very well. Kakuta has been very much involved in everything, the attacking players have been involved in the goals which is good and we have had a very good defence. Rhys Taylor has done well in goal.

"I am pleased with individual and team performance. This is a big, big game for all of us and it will be great to go to the final because that would be another big development step."