Chelsea’s confirmed team at the City Ground has sparked debate because Enzo Maresca left Moises Caicedo on the bench, and Enzo Fernandez was not included in the matchday squad.
The starting lineup includes Robert Sanchez, Malo Gusto, Josh Acheampong, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella, and Reece James (captain). Others are Romeo Lavia, Pedro Neto, Andrey Santos, Alejandro Garnacho, and Joao Pedro. Estevao, who scored the winning goal for Liverpool, is one of the substitutes.
The choice comes after the international break, and it looks like fitness management is the reason. Caicedo is on the bench but available, while Fernandez is not. Gusto and James both start, and James may play inside at times in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
This could be a managerial decision to be conservative with minutes, especially for Estevao, even though he had a big impact against Liverpool recently. Meanwhile, Maresca is banned from the touchline for one match because he celebrated a little too much during the win over Liverpool. Willy Caballero, the assistant coach, is in charge of the technical area today.
Fans on social media are not pleased with the starting lineup. While they are happy that Lavia and Chalobah get to play, they also made comments like these:
“So Gusto is going to be playing attacking mid when we have Estevao on the bench?”
“Why is Estavio on the bench?”
“What’s Caicedo doing on the bench after two weeks rest 😒”
“Please tell me James is playing DM and not Gusto pleaseeee”
“Why tosin and Caiceido on the bench ? Lavia will have to be at his Best 💯”
“All the attackers on the bench and Gusto starts lol just lol”
Enzo Maresca’s words about Cole Palmer’s injury
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has said that Cole Palmer will be out for about six more weeks because of a groin injury. This is a change from what he said before, when he revealed that the playmaker could come back sooner.
The club will take it easy on his recovery, with staff checking on his progress every week and not doing surgery. Palmer won’t be able to play until late November or early December because of the setback. This will affect his availability for the league and Champions League during a busy time.
Maresca gave the update before the Nottingham Forest game, where he is serving a one-game touchline ban for his celebration against Liverpool:
“I was wrong. Unfortunately he needs to be out probably six more weeks. Yes, absolutely [he won’t require surgery.] We try just to protect Cole as much as we can and the most important thing is that.
“Unfortunately the medical staff, they are not magicians, they never know that you probably need six weeks. We hope that six weeks, they are enough, but it’s a problem that we need to see step by step, week after week, but for sure he’s going to be okay.”