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Chelsea suffer fresh blow in Liverpool title race as Enzo Maresca option emerges

Chelsea will be without the services of winger Pedro Neto against Brentford after he picked up his fifth booking of the season at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

The Blues started off poorly in North London with Dominic Solanke and Dejan Kulusevski both capitalising on Marc Cucurella slips. On 17 minutes, Jadon Sancho gave Chelsea hope with a fine finish assisted by Cucurella and the tide appeared to turn from there.

Moises Caicedo was hacked down in the area on the hour mark to give Cole Palmer his first penalty which he fired home. Enzo Fernandez completed the turnaround on 73 minutes with a fierce strike before a second Palmer penalty created distance between the two teams.

Heung-min Son scored in stoppage time to set up a tense final minute or so but Chelsea saw the game out to move within four points of Liverpool. As mentioned, the Blues will next be in Premier League action on Sunday when they host Brentford at Stamford Bridge.

However, that is not the next game for the Blues. Chelsea travel to Astana on Thursday night in the Conference League but Neto will not serve his suspension in that game.

This is because suspensions which are picked up due to bookings are only served in the competition which the player has accumulated them in. Therefore, Enzo Maresca has the option of starting Neto in Europe this week.

A victory for Chelsea at Astana could guarantee them a spot in the knockout stages of the Conference League.

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Chelsea flag prior the UEFA Champions League Quarter Final Leg One match between Chelsea FC and Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge. (Photo by Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

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