“Nothing” – Enzo Maresca denies Caicedo decision is related to this important factor | OneFootball

Chelsea are about to face Burnley, and Enzo Maresca has just spoken to the media ahead of the game.

They wanted to know a little about his selection – firstly, why star of the season so far Moises Caicedo was only on the bench.

Maresca explains Fofana and Caicedo decisions

Moises Caicedo celebrates his goal. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Maresca denied that the Ecuador star was being left out for rotation reasons, with big games coming up against Arsenal and Barcelona next week:

“Nothing [to do with Barcelona and Arsenal],” Maresca denied.

“The reason he is not in the first eleven is that came back Thursday night from Ecuador, from the national team, then just a light session with us yesterday, and the reason he is not playing is that it is impossible. To protect him a little bit.”

He sounds a little defensive about the idea that it’s rotation, presumably because of the criticism he’s got for changing his team too much.

There was also a question about Wesley Fofana, who was left out today despite having recovered and played regularly before the break. Whenever he misses out people are naturally worried about injuries, but Maresca was able to calm fears on that front:

“Just to manage him and protect him a little bit. He is playing, he is good and he is fit and we are very happy with that,” the coach explained.

It sounds like, after a rest today, the Chelsea boss will try to use Fofana twice next week. We hope he’s ready.

In other Burnley news…

Another interesting switch was Alejandro Garnacho dropping out and Jamie Gittens coming in. We speculated about why that change might have been made, here.

It wasn’t just changes in attack that Maresca has made today, his full team has as much rotation as we expected, and sometimes in unusual areas.