Chelsea fans have been desperate to see more from Estevao Willian since he joined the club, however there is reason to believe Enzo Maresca will not use him in their next Champions League game.
The Blues have made the long trip to Azerbaijan to take on Qarabag in their fourth group stage game, and have a great chance to put themselves in a strong position to qualify for the knockout stages.
Maresca will be well aware that there are still some tough games to come for Chelsea before they can call it job done though. They still have to face Barcelona, Napoli and Atalanta before the group stages are done.
The last thing the manager wants is to see one of the difference-makers in his squad miss one of those games due to suspension, and Estevao is one of the players most at risk of this.
Estevao Willian looks on ahead of Chelsea vs Ajax
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Enzo Maresca may consider dropping Estevao Willian to protect him from Champions League yellow card
As per official UEFA rules, a player will be forced to miss a game if they receive three yellow cards before the quarter-finals of the competition.
So far, the Brazilian is on a single booking, and another in what should be a straightforward win over Qarabag would put him in danger of missing a crucial game later on down the line.
The boss could also make the same call around Enzo Fernandez, who is on the same amount of yellow cards from the first three games of the competition.
Enzo Maresca coaching Estevao Willian for Chelsea
Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Estevao’s discipline a cause for concern
There is more reason for Maresca to be worried about the discipline of Estevao after what he and Chelsea fans have seen from him so far.
Despite only joining over the summer, the Brazil international has already got four cards to his name in all competitions, something which will not have gone unnoticed at a club where the discipline has been under the microscope recently.
Joao Pedro, Malo Gusto and Robert Sanchez are amongst the players who have been sent off recently for Chelsea, while even the manager saw red in the win over Liverpool.
While Chelsea chiefs were not concerned at Maresca’s sending off, they are not taking the scenario lightly and the situation that it continues to leave the squad in when chasing points in the Premier League.