Chelsea handed major suspension blow for Cardiff clash despite Moises Caicedo boost

• Chelsea
• Chelsea News
• Cardiff City vs Chelsea

Chelsea will be missing one key player for this evening's Carabao Cup quarter-final with Cardiff City but Enzo Maresca is set to welcome Moises Caicedo back into the squad

Marc Cucurella will not travel to Cardiff this evening with the rest of the Chelsea squad as the left-back serves a one-match suspension in the Carabao Cup.

The Spain international picked up a yellow card in both of the Blues' fixtures in the competition thus far this season and as per EFL rules, he will now sit out for one match. Cucurella may well have been rested anyway given the amount of football he has played already this season for club and country.

The 27-year-old defender has played every possible minute since the last international break - completing all of Chelsea's seven games since November 22. Only Enzo Fernandez has played more minutes than Cucurella for the Blues since the start of the season, with 1849 vs 1848, respectively, as per Transfermarkt.

Chelsea, though, are set to welcome Moises Caicedo back into the squad for this evening's Carabao Cup quarter-final in the Welsh capital. Caicedo has missed the last three Premier League matches after picking up a straight red card in the draw with Arsenal at the end of last month, but the midfielder did play in the defeat to Atalanta last week.

Given the lack of minutes Caicedo has played recently, Enzo Maresca might be tempted to use him in Cardiff this evening. When asked by football.london on Monday afternoon whether that is the case, Maresca replied: "He is available. He can play. He is back, finally. We can use him."

Cole Palmer, however, is set to be rested at the Cardiff City Stadium. The 23-year-old recently returned from a lengthy layoff because of a recurring groin injury, but his workload is being managed so he does not run into any similar problems in the near future.

When asked about Palmer's fitness on Monday, Maresca said: "I already said many times in all the press conferences that the target for the ones that they need to be protected is the target. Cole in this moment is one of the players that he deserves to be protected, and in this moment he's not available to play two games in three days."