Kurt Zouma continued on the road to full recovery from a serious knee injury after playing 60 minutes in Chelsea Under-23s's 1-1 draw at Everton on Monday night.
Last week, the Frenchman played his first game since suffering knee ligament damage in February as Zouma was given a 45-minute outing in Chelsea development team's 2-2 draw with Derby County.
Despite giving away a penalty in the match, Zouma was handed another start by Under-23s coach Adi Viveash for the trip to Southport to face Everton on Monday and he enjoyed another good appearance as part of a three-man defence.
The game, which also saw the return of Marco van Ginkel from injury, ended 1-1 after Dujon Sterling's fifth-minute goal was cancelled out by Harry Charsley's equaliser just before the break.
Chelsea first-team manager Antonio Conte will be boosted by Zouma's two appearances for the U23s side after the 22-year-old broke into the Blues' team last season before the knee injury against Manchester United ruled him out of action for nearly nine months.
Despite his solid performances last season, Zouma may find it hard to force his way back into Chelsea's defence when he does return in the coming weeks - with David Luiz, Gary Cahill and Cesar Azpilicueta keeping four clean sheets in the club's last four league matches.
One positive aspect for Zouma, however, is that he played in a three-man defence against Everton which is the same defensive line-up Conte has been using for the first-team since the 4-0 loss at Arsenal.
