Chelsea will play Wolverhampton Wanderers in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday. They want to get back on track quickly. Four days after losing to Sunderland at Stamford Bridge in stoppage time, the Molineux tie takes place.
Wolves are coming off a bad league season, with only two wins in nine Premier League games. Their only wins this season were in the Carabao Cup, against West Ham (3-2) and Everton (2-0). At Molineux, the game starts at 7:45 p.m. BST.
The last time these two teams played in the League Cup was in 2012, when Chelsea won 6-0.
In his pre-match briefing, Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca said:
“We need to keep the players safe because if we stick with the same XI, the season is going to be hard… We probably will make some changes against Wolves.”
Chelsea’s last five games have been a mix of wins and losses: they have won three and lost two since beating Lincoln City in the third round. Sunderland’s late goal forced the Blues to regroup quickly before a busy schedule.
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Chelsea will play Wolves in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, and Enzo Maresca will likely change his starting XI. The head coach has confirmed that Liam Delap is back in the running after being out for months and is available for managed minutes at Molineux.
Chelsea still doesn’t have Cole Palmer, who will be out for about six more weeks because of a groin injury. Benoit Badiashile won’t be back until December, and Levi Colwill is still recovering from a long-term injury. After being charged with doping by the FA, Mykhailo Mudryk is still on hold. Malo Gusto is back after serving a one-game suspension.
Speaking ahead of the game, Maresca said:
“We need to protect the players because if we keep the same XI, we’ll have a hard time this season. We will probably make some changes against Wolves. I’m not sure how many, but we will.
¨There are players that need to be protected for a lot of reasons, so we’ll see what happens tomorrow. We need to protect Enzo, Moi, and Joao because they are all players for different reasons.”
Maresca said that the core unit would be rotated, and Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo, and Joao Pedro are all likely to be managed. Andrey Santos and Romeo Lavia might get more playing time. Delap’s return gives Chelsea another option at center forward as they try to make it to the quarter-finals.