Chelsea vs Bayer Leverkusen – Team News: Enzo Maresca plays just half of his first team | OneFootball

Chelsea face Bayer Leverkusen at Stamford Bridge in just over an hour, and the teams are in!

With a game today and a game on Sunday, and nobody expected to play much more than 90 minutes in total, it was always curious how Enzo Maresca was going to run things today.

There are players who were playing just a few weeks ago at the Club World Cup but have had no preseason, squad players who have had a full preseason and weren’t in the USA, new signings who have just arrived, youngsters too…

In the end it’s something of a mixed team, with some first team and some second team players. We expect to see many changes in this game, and a very different team on Sunday.

Filip Jorgensen is in goal, with Josh Acheampong and Trevoh Chalobah making up a solid academy centre back partnership.

Marc Cucurella plays at left back and Malo Gusto at right back.

In midfield, Moises Caicedo captains the team, with Andrey Santos and Cole Palmer completing the central trio.

Tyrique George and Estevao Willian are out wide, what a thrilling pair that is. Liam Delap leads the line.

Here are the full team line-ups for Chelsea vs Bayer Leverkusen (kick off at 19:00 GMT)

CHELSEA:

Chelsea’s team to face Bayer Leverkusen at Stamford Bridge.

Maresca keeps big guns in reserve

The bench is packed with players we expect to be in the first team come the game against Crystal Palace next weekend – Robert Sanchez, Jorrel Hato, Tosin Adarabioyo, Reece James, Enzo Fernandez, Joao Pedro and Pedro Neto all feel like they’ve got a very good chance of being in our first Premier League team of the campaign.

There are still places to be won however, and these two games will likely decide a lot in Maresca’s thinking.