At full time last night, Marc Cucurella got a very silly second yellow card for pushing a Brentford player right in front of the referee.
The Spaniard was pulled away from the situation by his teammate Renato Veiga, who led him off and calmed him down.
We wonder if, at that point, Veiga was already thinking about next week. He is Cucurella’s backup in the B team, and presumably now in line to replace him in Maresca’s first team for the game next week.
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Enzo Maresca and Moises Caicedo on the touchline. (Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC)
Marc Cucurella red card.
Marc Cucurella scores a header for Chelsea against Brentford.
With Shamrock Rovers on Thursday night and then Everton at the weekend, Veiga could end up playing twice in a week. It’s a huge moment for him. He’s been a B team stalwart and has come on as a late sub quite often to close games out, but his only Premier League start so far has been against Bournemouth back in September – and in that game he played in midfield.
Of course there’s still no guarantee that Veiga plays – we saw Malo Gusto and Reece James used on the left earlier in the season – but with James out injured we reckon the easiest way to keep up the rhythm and chemistry which is helping this team function so well.
It certainly seems to make more sense than putting Moises Caicedo to right back and playing Malo Gusto on the left.
Ishe Samuels-Smith in warmups. (Photo by James Fearn/Getty Images)
Ishe Samuels-Smith in warmups. (Photo by James Fearn/Getty Images)
Veiga may not be the only winner
Bumping up Veiga to the first team for next weekend could also spell a new chance in midweek for young players. Josh Acheampong could keep his B team place at right back against Shamrock Rovers, and who knows, maybe a Ishe Samuels-Smith could debut on the left hand side? It’s a home game in a group we’ve already qualified from against weak opposition. Why not?
The boring thing to do is just play Cucurella on Thursday, but why risk him when he can get a full week off, and an academy kid can get a chance?