Qarabag vs Chelsea – Team News: Maresca shocks everyone with team selection | OneFootball

Chelsea face Qarabag at in the Champions League in just over an hour, and the teams are in!

We had suspected Enzo Maresca was going to pick a relatively strong team, but we didn’t think that he’d go THIS strong. Clearly getting 3 points here is a huge priority so that we can aim to get into the Champions League top 8 and avoid a play-off later in the season.

Robert Sanchez plays in goal – even poor Filip Jorgensen doesn’t get a chance today.

Amazingly Reece James is at right back, despite the usual pattern being never to play him 3 times in 7 days. Tosin and Jorrel Hato play in the middle, with Marc Cucurella on the left.

It’s a real shame for Josh Acheampong, who has been rewarded for his fine form with consecutive appearances on the bench.

In midfield Maresca does rest the engine room – both Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez are only on the bench. Ahead of them, Joao Pedro plays in the 10, with Jamie Gittens and Estevao either side of him. JP has a chronic injury problem which Maresca keeps saying is why he’s struggling in Premier League games. It seems quite unnecessary to play him today.

Up top we expected Liam Delap to get a start with Tyrique George replacing him later in the game, but instead Maresca goes the other way, starting the academy kid and leaving Delap on the bench.

Here are the full team line-ups for Qarabag vs Chelsea (kick off at 17:45 GMT)

CHELSEA:

Chelsea’s team to face Qarabag.

In other news…

Joe Cole has named the player he thinks would be his first name on the Chelsea team sheet – and surprisingly it isn’t Cole Palmer.

Chelsea are hoping that a player already on their books can give their team a boost as soon as tonight – Liam Delap should be starting for the Blues in Azerbaijan.