Having reached the final of the Carabao Cup in two of the last three seasons, Enzo Maresca starts his journey towards a possible first trophy as Chelsea manager on Tuesday night. With the Blues finding their feet under the Italian, they can now cautiously set their sights on a cup run.
Although Maresca himself isn’t looking that far ahead – “We need to go game by game and to see where we arrive and then fight for that” – the visit of League Two Barrow is a low-key start to Chelsea’s League Cup campaign. With a large squad and some players still short of minutes, it offers a chance to rotate and experiment.
Malo Gusto is fit for the match, Maresca explained, but Romeo Lavia is not. The Belgian will be aiming to be involved against Brighton on Saturday having only played once this season. As for Gusto, although he is in contention, Chelsea could opt to rest him with Josh Acheampong training with the first team prior to the match.
Wesley Fofana went off in the second half against West Ham on Saturday and may well be left out as well with a priority match coming up. Maresca downplayed the severity of his knock at the weekend but did explain that the cup was a chance to offer out game time to his wider squad.
“Yeah, it could be the chance also to give them some minutes; in the same way we have done in the Conference League, we try to share minutes with them,” he said. “Hopefully it can be a good chance for them to hopefully show some good moments themselves, to continue to get minutes.”
It is noticeable that Cole Palmer was left out of Chelsea’s Conference League group phase squad, so he could also be left to recover here as well. Tyrique George would be one of those keen to take advantage of his absence having also worked under Maresca at Cobham in parts this year as well.
Kiano Dyer is another who will be hopeful of getting onto the pitch at Stamford Bridge. Meanwhile, the sheer numbers in attack mean that some high-profile options could miss out in the name of rotation. Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke might find themselves with a free midweek.
With rotation, Maresca could also turn to Ben Chilwell, who he indicated would be in the squad. It could see Marc Cucurella left out for one match. Meanwhile, Mykhailo Mudryk is likely to get an opportunity to impress having been left on the bench in the last two league matches.
Here, football.london takes a look at what Chelsea’s 20-man squad for the game could look like.
Goalkeepers: Filip Jorgensen, Robert Sanchez
Defenders: Josh Acheampong, Tosin Adarabioyo, Levi Colwill, Axel Disasi, Benoit Badiashile, Ben Chilwell, Renato Veiga
Midfielders: Moises Caicedo, Kiano Dyer, Enzo Fernandez, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall
Attackers: Joao Felix, Marc Guiu, Pedro Neto, Mykhailo Mudryk, Jadon Sancho, Christopher Nkunku, Tyrique George
