While Chelsea left Wembley empty-handed over the weekend after losing the Carabao Cup final on penalties to Manchester City, the Blues still managed to put in an encouraging performance on the day.

Since then, both Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Callum Hudson-Odoi have come in for massive praise with a certain ex-Chelsea captain now calling on Maurizio Sarri to hand the English duo some starts.

The Breakdown

"We’ve got people like Hudson-Odoi and it’s important to keep him," John Terry told Chelsea's official club website when discussing the recent Wembley defeat.

"Ruben Loftus-Cheek, is he ready? Let’s find out. If we’re not going to win the league then let’s give him a chance in the league. Let’s blood the younger players and see what they’ve got."

Given how poor Willian and Pedro have been at times this season and some of the underwhelming displays from Mateo Kovacic and Ross Barkley, it is a surprise Sarri has only just started to really turn to Loftus-Cheek and Hudson-Odoi, though it must be mentioned that the former has been suffering with a back injury.

At the end of the day, though, it is better late than never. As long as Sarri accepts he probably should have used the two Chelsea academy products earlier in the season and starts to hand them more minutes, all is not lost.

The west London club could still end this season inside the top four and with a trophy with the Europa League up for grabs, but only if Sarri starts using a more meritocratic system when it comes to selecting his starting XI.