Chelsea vs Legia Warsaw – Team News: Maresca’s crazy selection is simply inexpicable | OneFootball

Chelsea face Legia Warsaw at Stamford Bridge in just under an hour, and the teams are in!

We expected Enzo Maresca to pick a particularly weak lineup – we’re three goals up in this tie, playing at home and have vastly more important Premier League games to come. Yet the coach has picked a bizarrely strong lineup to confound us all.

Filip Jorgensen plays in goal, as we all expected. Then we get to see Josh Acheampong at right back, with a rotated central defensive pair of Tosin Adarabioyo and Benoit Badiashile. So far so good.

But then it gets weird – why on earth play Marc Cucurella in this game when we want him 100% fresh for the weekend? Ishe Samuels-Smith is begging for a senior debut and could easily have done a job there. Or just play Malo Gusto on the left.

Things get even more puzzling further forward. Ahead of kick off we begged the boss to NOT pick Reece James, as it would rule him out from this weekend’s crucial match against Fulham. Yet there he is, playing when we don’t need him and ruling himself out for when we do.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall partners him in midfield, as you’d expect.

The attack is the most frustrating of all. Jadon Sancho and Christopher Nkunku are fair enough (although the latter has done nothing to deserve being picked even in the B team). But why would you pick Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson from the start and not rest them until the weekend? Why is Tyrique George on the bench and not starting?

Here are the full team line-ups for Chelsea vs Legia Warsaw (kick off at 20:00 GMT)

CHELSEA:

Chelsea’s strangely strong team to face Legia Warsaw.

Honestly, these decisions are totally baffling, and we can’t wait to hear the coach try to explain them.