Tottenham Hotspur’s U21s have been drawn as the fourth team in EFL Trophy Group A, joining the Blues, Colchester United and Gillingham.
The Blues’ first ever EFL Trophy group fixtures - they will face one of their EFL opponents at home, one away and the Spurs U21s at home - will be played in the weeks commencing 2nd September, 7th October and 11th November.
The ball representing Norwich City’s U21s was left out of the draw for Group A, which was live on talkSPORT at lunchtime, with the EFL avoiding "high-profile clashes” in the group stage.
Two teams will progress from the group with the usual three points for a win and one for a draw. However, with matches level at 90 minutes going straight to penalties, a further bonus point goes to the winners of the shoot-out.
The game with the League Two U's will see manager Paul Lambert reunited with his old club, while keeper Tomas Holy will potentially lock horns with his former side, the Gills, for a third time.
The visit of Tottenham’s U21s will see academy head of coaching and player development Bryan Klug reunited with the youth set-up where he worked prior to his return to Town in 2012.
The competition, featuring all the League One and Two teams plus 16 U21 sides and known as the Checkatrade Trophy in previous seasons, is split on a north-south basis with eight groups in each region.
The 15 other clubs whose U21s in the competition this season are Arsenal, Aston Villa, Brighton & Hove Albion, Chelsea, Everton, Fulham, Leicester City, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Norwich City, Southampton, West Ham United, Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Teams are required to field four qualifying outfield players, but any eligible goalkeeper.
A qualifying outfield player is someone who started the club's previous match, someone in the top 10 players at the club in terms starting appearances in league and domestic cup competitions in the season up to that point, a player with 40 or more first-team appearances over their career or a player on loan from a Premier League or EFL side. No player can appear for two different teams in the competition.