3 hours ago
2
A significant Chelsea starting XI change looks to have already been confirmed for the huge Champions League clash away at Bayern Munich.
With so many fixtures on the horizon, Enzo Maresca made several alterations this past weekend for the Premier League clash against Brentford. Jorrel Hato, Wesley Fofana, and Facundo Buonanotte were among those who started at the Gtech Community Stadium.
The Blues struggled to create chances during the opening 45 minutes, which saw early substitutions. Cole Palmer and Marc Cucurella were among those introduced, with the former making an almost immediate impact on his return from injury.
Palmer's first open-play goal in the Premier League since January was one of three second-half goals, with Brentford's Fabio Carvalho having the final say. Attention quickly shifted to their first European fixture of the season in Germany.
Chelsea will have to be at their very best to beat Bayern on their own pitch, and Maresca has been boosted by Palmer and Estevao Willian, who missed Saturday's 2-2 draw through illness, getting through open training on Tuesday.
Both attackers starting is a real possibility, but such a big squad means Maresca has other options in almost every area. That was evidenced by Fofana playing at right-back against Brentford, especially with Malo Gusto, Trevoh Chalobah, Moises Caicedo, Josh Acheampong, and Reece James all capable of being deployed in that role.
The latter played 137 minutes in that position for England over the September international break and came on for Fofana when Chelsea were a goal behind. Maresca made a pretty brutal decision, but it seemingly had nothing to do with his first-half display.
"We planned 45 minutes for Wes [Fofana], because he was a long time out," Maresca revealed in a press conference when asked about his team selection.
This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
Based on that, more minutes arriving against Bayern is hard to imagine given the quick turnaround with Maresca likely having already made a decision and an admission from James has only further confirmed his expected plans.
"To captain the team and walk out at such a historic stadium [tonight] is such an amazing feeling," he said on Tuesday.
Though Maresca likes to deploy James in midfield, it is far more likely Enzo Fernandez will join Moises Caicedo with Chelsea needing the legs in midfield to compete with a Bayern side that will likely want to dominate the ball.
While that decision is not officially confirmed, Maresca has clarified one of his team selection calls.
"Robert [Sanchez] will start, but for sure with the amount of games that we have, Filip [Jorgensen] is going to play games in the Premier League, in the Champions League, in the FA Cup, in the Carabao," he said. "We have so many games that for sure Robert cannot play all of them.
English (US) ·