Enzo Maresca may have said he likes the way his Chelsea team are “fighting” but their ill-discipline so far this season will see three players suspended for their trip to Anfield to face Liverpool after the international break.
No side in the top flight has had more yellow cards than the Blues, who have amassed 27 in their first seven games, including six in both the 1-0 victory at Bournemouth and Sunday’s 1-1 draw at home with Nottingham Forest.
Two of those cards at Stamford Bridge went to Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana, meaning they became the first Premier League players to receive five yellows and the mandatory one-game ban in the 2024/25 campaign.
Neither “records” are ones to be hugely proud of, even if it does display the bite that has so often been lacking for Chelsea in recent years, and it was only further compounded on Monday when Nicolas Jackson was banned for putting his hand in the face of Forest’s Morato during the pitch side melee.
All in all, it means Maresca will have to make three changes from what has fast become his first-choice line-up, and at the home of the league leaders. So, who might come in?
Unless Ben Chilwell can complete an unlikely zero-to-hero arc, it is almost certain Renato Veiga will start in place of Cucurella, as he has done in the Conference League. The Portuguese left-back, who joined in the summer from Basel, scored in Thursday’s 4-2 win over Gent, and has impressed whenever he’s featured.
At centre-back, Chelsea’s transfer policy has left Maresca with several options, namely Tosin Adarabioyo, Axel Disasi and Benoit Badiashiele. The former Fulham defender appears to be third choice, given he started in the 3-0 win at West Ham ahead of the other two, and Badiahsile hasn’t played a minute of Premier League football so far this season.
Up top, it seems like an obvious decision to make, with Christopher Nkunku coming in for just his second league start of the season. He has been in flying form in other competitions and is funnily the club’s top scorer so far with seven goals, albeit just one has come in the league. It was the vital winner at Bournemouth, nonetheless.
It is very unlikely Maresca would have experimented in such a high-profile clash, but it does give some of his so-called “B Team” players a chance to impress, and for the club’s squad-building merits to be put to the test.
There are possibly the only benefits from a disciplinary situation that needs to be rectified, and quickly.
