Chelsea players’ reward for their emphatic 8-0 European victory is likely to be a place on the bench for Sunday’s clash with Arsenal.
The Blues continued their 100 percent start to the UEFA Conference League in style with a comfortable win over Armenian minnows FC Noah at Stamford Bridge on Thursday.
Chelsea’s goal fest saw six different players get on the scoresheet but incredibly, not one of them started last Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Manchester United.
Few would argue that a team of Chelsea’s stature, who lifted the Champions League just three-and-a-half years ago, should not be playing in UEFA’s third-tier competition.
But for boss Enzo Maresca and his over-inflated squad, the UEFA Conference League hands him the opportunity to play and develop his fringe players while keeping his first-choice names fresh for Premier League duty.
It is a luxury few can afford. Even champions Manchester City who find their squad threadbare due to a host of key injuries.
City’s injury woes has resulted in a three-game losing streak for the first time since April 2018 but the same can’t be said of Chelsea who appear to have come through their own injury crisis.
Chelsea have made strides under Maresca this season and the former Leicester City boss has quickly established a playing hierarchy that on the surface, appears to be working… for now.
Chelsea and Chelsea ‘reserves’ make up the bulk of the first-team squad with those playing on Thursday night’s hoping to impress for a call-up to the weekend matchday squad.
But it appears that not even an 8-0 win will prevent Maresca from deviating from the age-old saying of ‘never changing a winning team’.
Sunday’s crunch trip to the Emirates is likely to see Maresca’s darlings take centre stage once again with the likes of Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson, Noni Madueke and Pedro Neto set to come in.
That is likely to see Christopher Nkuknu and Enzo Fernandez drop to the bench alongside Mykhailo Mudryk and Joao Felix equating to £352.3million on transfer fees on the quartet alone.
In fact, Chelsea’s much-changed starting XI against FC Noah was still worth in the region of £400m.
Maresca’s embarrassment of riches is the envy of many particularly in a period where the inflated football calendar continues to create conflict between players, clubs, organisers and fans.
However, Chelsea appear to have found the correct formula, if results are anything to go by.
The Blues sit fourth in the Premier League table with 18 points from ten games and a victory over the Gunners could see the west London club climb into third.
It’s a far cry from this stage last season which saw Chelsea slumped in 11th place with just 12 points for their efforts.
Chelsea had scored just 13 goals back then compared to 20 goals this time round – the third highest tally in the league this term.
Cole Palmer is set to return for the trip to the Emirates[/caption]
And confidence is high at Stamford Bridge going into Sunday’s clash with Maresca’s side facing a wounded Arsenal still reeling after back-to-back defeats.
The Gunners’ energy-zapping midweek trip to Serie A champions Inter could hand a fresh-legged Chelsea the upper hand.
Arsenal are likely to field a similar line up to the one that took to the field at the San Siro and in the defeat at Newcastle last Saturday.
The pressure is on the Gunners who were tipped to end their 20-year title drought this season but find themselves seven-point adrift at the top and one place below Maresca’s improving side.
