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Louise Thomas
Editor
Enzo Maresca pointed to his policy of heavy rotation as reason to be optimistic Chelsea can cope with the absence of Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana for their trip to Liverpool.
The head coach has played the same back four in five out of seven Premier League games so far but will be forced into changes for the meeting with the league leaders at Anfield following the international break, after the pair collected their fifth bookings of the season in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest.
Chelsea fielded an entirely changed XI against Forest from the one which beat Gent in the Conference League last Thursday, the second time that Maresca has swapped his whole line-up between league and cup fixtures.
“We have 25 first-team players,” he said. “All clubs have around that number. I don’t think it’s something just for us.
“The way we try to do things is to try to share minutes with all of them. The reason is because they deserve it.
“The ones that played (against Gent) did well and probably deserved (to play) again, but there was another 11 that did a fantastic job against Brighton. We try to use all of them in the best way.
“When you have an injury or red card, like now we don’t have Wes and Marc, we are going to use some of the guys that today were not in the first 11.”
So far Malo Gusto has been the only defensive absence in the league after he missed the away wins against Bournemouth and West Ham with a thigh injury.
That means that only Axel Disasi and Tosin Adarabioyo have started a league game in defence aside from Maresca’s preferred back four of Cucurella, Fofana, Gusto and Levi Colwill.
The Italian could turn to summer signing Renato Veiga who has impressed in the Conference League and Carabao Cup, whilst Benoit Badiashile is also available.
Ben Chilwell, who came on as a substitute in the 5-0 win over Barrow having previously been told he could leave the club, is not eligible for the Conference League, but has been included in the 25-man Premier League squad.
When you have an injury or red card, like now we don’t have Wes and Marc, we are going to use some of the guys that today were not in the first 11.— Enzo Maresca
Maresca confirmed that Colwill and Noni Madueke, who are due to meet up with Lee Carsley’s England squad for the Nations League games against Greece and Finland, should be fit after both left the field against Forest seemingly nursing injuries.
“They are both OK,” he said. “We will see, but I don’t think there is any problem with them.”
Chelsea sit fourth after seven games and with 16 goals are the division’s second-highest scorers behind Manchester City.
Maresca added: “When we started the season, some of us or in general you think by the second international break you are fourth and the team is playing in the way we are playing, learning to play different kinds of games, for sure it’s something I am very happy.
“Seven games, 14 points, it’s important. But for me it’s also important to see the way we got 14 points.
“It has been different ways, different kinds of games; home, away, a team like (Forest) that sits back, a difficult team that tries to be aggressive. You use different weapons.”
