Chelsea might have the luck of the draw as they welcome Liverpool to Stamford Bridge on Sunday. Although Arne Slot's side are deserved Premier League champions, they now have nothing to play for in the final four matches.
That will offer hope to Chelsea that their opponents are lacking some concentration, focus, or motivation. This game is undoubtedly more important for Enzo Maresca.
He has guided his team to crucial victories in the last two weeks, beating Everton and Fulham to reignite a top five charge that had been in danger of seriously stalling. Now, with Nottingham Forest losing to Brentford on Thursday - whilst Chelsea were cruising past Djurgarden in the Conference League - the race has been blown wide open.
Chelsea will welcome Liverpool as the newly crowned league winners and will give them a guard of honour. In return they will be keen to earn all three points.
Speaking ahead of the game, Slot admitted that he is planning to rotate his team, something which will be music to the ears of Maresca. "It's nice that we play some very strong teams so that gives us immediately a challenge," said Slot on Friday. "It is the end of the season but we also have to look at this as the start of next season already.
"My line-ups will be different to the ones we've had mostly during the last 10 months. We are not going to change everyone but there will be a few players who will come into the team. There will be certain rotation in the upcoming games.
"We have a lot of trust in the players we are going to play now. Some of them deserve to have played earlier this season because they have trained so well and are good enough to play for this club, but I mainly chose the same players.
"This is also a moment to see where they are, also looking towards next season a bit already, but definitely also because they deserve to play this season. It's not now that all the ones that have played all the games are not going to play any more, and all the other ones are going to play now.
"I did this once before, at Plymouth away [in the FA Cup], and I got quite a bit of criticism by you [the media], didn't I? We will mix it up, but it's not going to be four games with the same line-up as we had against Tottenham.”
Maresca will be hoping that he can take advantage in the same way. Here, football.london takes a look at the team Chelsea should pick.
Tom Coley
Chelsea played extremely well for the first half last week against Everton and also upped things in Sweden compared to their usual Conference League tempo. Combining the team which started both of those games is the way to go.
In goal, if Robert Sanchez is fit then he returns as first choice. He had a very good game against Everton and is Maresca's undoubted No.1. The defence should remain the same as well.
Moises Caicedo will be at right-back in order to make things fit further forward. He inverts into midfield when Chelsea have the ball and can defend one-on-one in big spaces when required anyway.
In the middle and both Trevoh Chalobah and Levi Colwill come back in. Tosin Adarabioyo had a great game on Thursday but Chalobah has proven himself to be a favoured partner. Marc Cucurella got 45 minutes in Europe and retains his place as the only left-back.
Into midfield and Caicedo will come forward to partner Romeo Lavia. He anchored things brilliantly on his first start for more than three months six days ago and will hope to continue that burst of form. Chelsea got notably worse against Everton when he went off.
Enzo Fernandez is back in as well after excelling in the first half against DIF. He is able to take on a more attacking role with Caicedo and Lavia in. Cole Palmer is the in the No.10 role.
He is still wildly out of form but is needed if Chelsea are going to get through this tough end to the season. Fortunately the other forwards are coming to their own.
Pedro Neto is hard done by not to play here but Jadon Sancho was great on Thursday and must carry that confidence over. Neto is a brilliant option to have from the bench. Nicolas Jackson got his second and third goals of the week to help his own tally after still looking slightly off it despite scoring against Everton. Noni Madueke is looking dangerous himself and starts on the right.
Coley's XI: Sanchez; Caicedo, Chalobah, Colwill, Cucurella; Palmer, Fernandez, Lavia; Madueke, Jackson, Sancho.
Sam Truelove
A weird fixture for Chelsea and Liverpool. The Blues can afford to go strong after such a commanding victory in the Conference League semi-final first leg, whereas the Reds go into the game having been crowned Premier League champions.
Selection-wise, Sanchez has done alright in recent weeks, so he keeps his place as the league goalkeeper. Colwill and Chalobah deserve to keep their places at the heart of defence, while Cucurella remains the only real option on the left.
At right-back I would start James. The Blues captain has to start playing regularly at some point so why not at Stamford Bridge against the champions?
James at right-back allows Caicedo and Fernandez to continue their partnership in Chelsea's midfield. Despite calls for him to be dropped, I would still start Palmer although there is a temptation to start Lavia, and push Fernandez higher.
After his goal in midweek I would hand Madueke another start on the right. Neto can shift out to the left with Jackson through the middle.
Truelove's XI: Sanchez; James, Chalobah, Colwill, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Madueke, Palmer, Neto; Jackson.
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