Antonio Conte was pleased to see Chelsea's young stars repay his faith against Everton and will use the EFL Cup to continue developing the likes of Ethan Ampadu.
Conte made a whole host of changes for the EFL Cup fourth-round tie, - with 17-year-old Ampadu being handed only his second appearance for the Blues next to debutant Danny Drinkwater in midfield.
Conte also started Kenedy as his left wing-back as Charly Musonda took up the left wing position usually occupied by Eden Hazard.
All three impressed as Chelsea secured a 2-1 win to reach the quarter-finals and Conte was impressed how the younger players handled the pressure against a reinvigorated Toffees side.
"The performance was very good, especially in the first half when we created chances to score," Conte told reporters. "In the second half we suffered a bit - it’s normal when you play against Everton.
"Everton are a good team and have just changed the coach and usually in this type of situation, the players want to try to give more. For this reason, this game was dangerous for us.
"But I am very happy - tonight I saw a lot of positive things - the young players' performance. Charly Musonda, Kenedy, Ampadu - he is only 17 years old - they all played a very good game.
"It is important to trust in these players and I am happy because I had a good answer, the answer I was waiting for. The other good news was to see Danny Drinkwater.
"I think that in these type of games the young players are improving - to see Ampadu tonight is important because we know we have many young players we can improve and give them opportunities.
"These young players want to improve and work and to see them doing the training session, I am very happy."
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Chelsea looked set to secure a 2-0 win over Everton thanks to Antonio Rudiger and Willian's goals, but substitute Dominic Calvert-Lewin grabbed a consolation deep in added time.
Conte wasn't happy that Chelsea failed to keep a clean sheet for the sixth game in a row, adding: "Willy [Caballero] played very well but if I have to find a negative thing tonight, like against Nottingham Forest, we conceded a goal in the last minute.
"Maybe we paid for a lack of rotation, when you are 2-0 up and there is only one minute to go, the focus must be right. But I repeat this job was difficult for us, a tough draw for us, to go next step is important, last season we were stopped in the second round against West Ham and we want to try to fight for this competition.
"It will be difficult as there are strong teams, but we want to try to give our young players the opportunity to have these type of games. You have to take risks if you want to develop young players, you have to give them chance to play in tough games.
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