Ebbsfleet United meet Chelsea under-21s in their final pre-season friendly

A meeting with Chelsea’s young guns is the ideal way for Ebbsfleet to finish pre-season.

Fleet face the London giants’ under-21 side at Stonebridge Road on Saturday (3pm).

It’s their final friendly before opening the National League campaign at Rochdale on August 5 and boss Dennis Kutrieb expects a big test.

Fleet are stepping up in class on their return to the top flight of non-league football and they’ll see plenty of quality from Chelsea.

“They will be young, they will show energy, they will punish you in transitions,” said Kutrieb, whose side beat West Ham under-23s 2-1 on Tuesday night.

“You need to make sure you are ready for these kinds of challenges because they won’t be lazy and just let you run.

“They will have pace and they will have fitness.

“These kinds of challenges we will face in the league as well, and that’s why we picked them for a friendly.

“I’m pretty sure we will get punished if we are lazy in possession or we make stupid mistakes.

“From this point of view, it’s very good to have this game before we go to Rochdale.”

Kutrieb is undecided on his starting XI to face Chelsea.

“We haven’t decided what we are going to do,” he added.

“Everything we do now is about getting ready for Rochdale.

“Every player wants to show up because they want to play the first game of the season but we have to make sure we find the right players who are able to compete with Rochdale, a good side coming down from League 2.

“You need to be ready and be able to understand and adapt to different challenges when they come.

“We’re going into a league with more quality, higher intensity, better fitness, better individuals, better managers, better pitches, more spectators, bigger stadiums. There are so many things you need to adapt