One big winner and one big loser from Chelsea’s Conference League demolition | OneFootball

Chelsea’s win over Noah was perhaps even easier than expected – and we expected it to be pretty easy.

It’s hard to draw too many conclusions from a game which was even more heavily rotated than usual – but we’ve done our best.

One player who was under pressure to perform and did so was Enzo Fernandez. He’s been dropped from the first team in the last few weeks, and needs good showings with the backups to show he deserves another chance.

The Argentine grabbed three first half assists, showing us what he can do. He also almost had a goal of his own. He was taken off at half time – but that’s more to keep him fresh for the weekend, and to give others like Cesare Casadei a chance.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall looks unhappy in an EFL Cup game. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)

KDH the loser to go with Enzo as winner

Now one shouldn’t draw too many conclusions from the lineup decisions Maresca made tonight. The selection and the substitutions were as much about keeping the most fringe players in the group happy as it was about keeping the usual B team fit and fresh.

But still, those B team regulars who didn’t feature from the start today – like Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall – will be worried at the prospect of this continuing.

We’re effectively through the group stage now, so Maresca will have many more games in which he can play this sort of C team without fear. Then, in the knockouts, he will presumably move towards a more serious team.

We’re now out of the EFL Cup too, so it’s really just a handful of FA Cup games on the horizon as potential competitive games KDH can play. Spin it however you want, tonight was another bad omen for his remaining minutes this season.