Chelsea are expected to field a near full-strength team against Hamburg in Germany tonight as manager Carlo Ancelotti turns his pre-season preparations up a notch.

The Double winners take on Manchester United on Sunday in the Community Shield and the names gracing Wembley should be the ones that Stamford Bridge regulars are used to. John Terry, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and Didier Drogba should all feature in the Imtech Arena tonight and then against Sir Alex Ferguson's team.

Yet, Ancelotti is more excited about the youngsters he will have sitting on the bench. Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore has accepted partial blame today for the failure of the England team at the World Cup. “We want the England manager to be spoilt for choice,” he said when referring to the lack of talent that coach Fabio Capello had at his disposal this summer.

But while Academies at clubs in the Premier League are not producing young English talent at a rate fast enough to keep the critics off Capello's back, his fellow Italian Ancelotti could not be happier with the production line at Cobham.

Jeffrey Bruma, Josh McEachran and Billy Clifford all appeared in the team that won the FA Youth Cup last season and have all had big roles to play in Chelsea's pre-season.

All started in the defeat by Ajax and Bruma and McEacharan have been joined on the current two-match tour of Germany by three other academy products, Patrick van Aanholt, Gael Kakuta and Fabio Borini.

New rules this season stipulate each club must nominate a squad list of a maximum 25 players for Premier League action, eight of which must be home grown' — that is someone who has been registered for any club in England or Wales for a period of three years while under 21. This number can be supplemented by any registered players under the age of 21.

So far Yossi Benayoun is the only new face through the door and Brazilian Ramires — work permit providing — will join him, with Michael Ballack, Juliano Belletti and Joe Cole all having left the club.

That will put the emphasis on Ancelotti's youngsters but the manager is not worried.

“It is the same thing as in the Champions League so we are not surprised about this and this rule can improve the Academies in the clubs,” he said.

“I don't think we have a difficulty to put a squad in. We have the right number of foreign players.

“I am happy because it is important for our Academy — they are very good players, they need to stay with us and will have more chances this year.

“I know them very well. We followed them for the last year and it is the time for them to be involved in the squad. I don't know how many games they can play this season but we need to have these young players in our squad.”

The dilemma for Capello is the wording of the new rules which mean any Academy products do not have to be English. While McEachran (Oxford) and Clifford (Slough) are local enough, Bruma (Holland), Van Aanholt (Holland), Kakuta (French) and Borini (Italy) only demonstrate how good Chelsea's scouting network now is across Europe.

There is more hope, though, in that 12 out of 23 players listed on the club's website as being in Chelsea's Academy for this season are English. Benayoun, who joined the club from Liverpool, has gelled well with the youngsters after playing a big part in pre-season and Ancelotti believes the Israeli will be a success at Stamford Bridge.

“He is an intelligent player, tactically he knows everything very well,” said the Italian.

“I tried to put him as a right midfielder in this pre-season and he can also play in his usual position as a winger.

“He has to train to improve his condition but I think for us he is a good player to play because tactically he is very intelligent.”

Asked why Joe Cole was allowed to leave before being replaced with a similar player, Ancelotti added: “Everyone can explain his opinion, we are happy to have Yossi here. I think Joe Cole in Chelsea did a fantastic career but this year is another story.

“Joe was quicker with respect to Yossi but tactically I think that Yossi is better.”

Just one of a promising bunch of boys in blue

One young player expected to make the grade at Chelsea is 17-year-old midfielder Josh McEachran.

A regular youth international, McEachran played a key role in England's Under-17 European Championship triumph this summer, scoring in the group stages against Czech Republic and impressing against Spain in the Final.

Comfortable on the left or in the middle, McEachran was one of the Chelsea's finest performers in their FA Youth Cup Final win against Aston Villa last season.

Manager Carlo Ancelotti is a confirmed admirer and handed McEachran, who joined the club as an eight-year-old, a squad number last January (51) and invited him to travel with the first team for last season's Carling Cup tie at Blackburn.

He has continued progressing during pre-season and has been involved in all three Chelsea games so far as they build towards the new campaign and their defence of the Premier League title.

McEachran started alongside established first-team players Michael Essien and Jon Obi Mikel against Crystal Palace last month and again against Dutch giants Ajax in Amsterdam. He also replaced Florent Malouda after 58 minutes against Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.

There is genuine belief at Stamford Bridge that the talented teenager can make the next step and become a regular first-team squad member.