Why Enzo Maresca will be forced to rest 2 essential first team starters on Saturday despite criticism | OneFootball

The international break is over, and while Chelsea escaped any injuries from the fixtures (as far as we know so far, anyway), a number of players did play significant minutes for their country, enough to affect their availability this weekend.

Chelsea players in the red zone after international period

Carefree Youth put together a list of senior players by minutes played.

Chelsea have a game against Burnley in the early kick off slot on Saturday, which is particularly frustrating. But the priority beyond even that is next week, where they have decisive games against Arsenal and Barcelona.

Players who played 180 minutes in the last week who we would also like to play 180 minutes in those games – Marc Cucurella and Moises Caicedo – simply can’t start on Saturday. Enzo Maresca has been criticised for rotating his team in recent weeks, but he needs to stay strong here.

Everyone else is ok – Estevao hasn’t been starting for us in the league regularly, nor have Tyrique George or Jamie Gittens. From the regular first team, Reece James only played the first game and Malo Gusto only played once too.

There’s also travel which plays an important factor – anyone who flew for many hours or crossed a lot of time zones or arrived back late at Cobham could also be a doubt. Caicedo ticks all those boxes, and played 180 minutes. He’s our most in-form player – but that’s exactly why he has to be rested for next week.

In other news…

Enzo Fernandez has been getting some praise in the media after keeping up his warrior record of racking up games for club and country. Sources at Chelsea are saying some very interesting things about him.

Estevao is another player who has had a superb fortnight, scoring again for Brazil. Fabrizio Romano spoke about the transfer which brought the winger to Chelsea on his podcast as we reported here.