Two Argentine playmakers to return to Chelsea team tomorrow night after latest Maresca decision | OneFootball

Last season, Chelsea were able to play a second string in the Conference League, often rotating eleven players between midweek and weekend.

That’s not the case anymore. Full strength teams are needed in midweek and again at the weekend. This week was a painful reminder of that as the Champions League got going.

Chelsea suffering from busy season already

Chelsea squad in a group photo at full time. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)

Chelsea looked drained after an hour against Bayern Munich, and just 72 hours later they were lining up against Manchester United. Getting a red card to early on Saturday only compounded those issues.

Thankfully tomorrow night’s game is against Lincoln in the Carabao Cup, a welcome chance for Enzo Maresca to rotate. We imagine it will be an almost fully changed XI, although the likes of Estevao Wilian, who played just 5 minutes against Man U will surely get another chance.

Cole Palmer, Joao Pedro, Moises Caicedo, Reece James and others all desperately need a rest. The game against Brighton next weekend is already looming large, and we need as much freshness restored as possible.

Marc Guiu will surely get his first minutes since being recalled from loan, and Josh Acheampong (who should be playing far more often) will also hope to get 90 under his belt.

Garnacho desperate to show what he can do after Old Trafford snub

The decision to not bring on Alejandro Garnacho last night against his old team raised a lot of eyebrows. He has a big chance tomorrow to show what he can do from the start and prove that Enzo Maresca should have used him.

Facundo Buonanotte will also likely get his second start as a Blue. This is only an EFL Cup third round game but it already looks an important one to get some confidence back.