Chelsea settle into familiar pattern but star-studded squad could pose dilemma for Enzo Maresca | OneFootball

Second-string continue to make light work of European assignments

Two months into this season and the typical Chelsea week has developed what, compared to last season’s rollercoaster, has felt a surprisingly consistent rhythm.

At the weekend, Enzo Maresca’s first-choice teams plays in the Premier League and is usually either quietly or spectacularly impressive, managing the former even in defeat at Liverpool last Sunday.

Then, in midweek, the rest of the Italian’s squad get their crack in some cup competition or other and attempt to prove they ought really to be playing as part of the headline act.

Thursday night was no different, as an entirely changed XI thrashed Panathanikos 4-1 in the Conference League, the same £200million reserve forward line that steamrollered League Two’s Barrow last month blowing away a team that finished fourth in Greece’s top tier.

Such is Chelsea’s fire - and spending - power compared to their rivals in Europe’s third club competition that it will be some time before these matches start to feel less like auditions and more like crucial fixtures in their own right. With two wins from two and Armenian minnows Noah to come at home next, the Blues already have half-a-foot in the knockout stage. Given no teams even drop from the Europa League into the Conference this season, it may not be until the last-eight or semi-final that Maresca’s side meet even moderately competitive opposition in a game of genuine jeopardy.

And that, in itself, could soon force a dilemma upon Maresca, as he ponders how and when to reward those excelling in these midweek assignments with the odd start in the Premier League.

Thus far, the Italian has broadly resisted that temptation: no player has yet, on the strength of midweek performance, broken into what since the transfer window close has been a broadly settled Premier League side, at least without injury or suspension playing its part.

Joao Felix, who scored twice in an excellent display in Athens, for instance, has not started a league game since signing for the second time this summer. Christopher Nkunku has scored in all four European matches this season, but has not been picked to start in the Premier League since the opening day.

Joao Felix starred for Chelsea in Athens - but faces competition from Cole Palmer in the No.10 spot

Chelsea FC via Getty Images

And of course, there are good reasons in both cases. Felix’s route into the first XI in his preferred position at No10 is blocked by the undroppable Cole Palmer. Nkunku wants to play at centre-forward, but Nicolas Jackson is in the form of his short Chelsea career there.

With Newcastle to come this Sunday, followed by Manchester United and Arsenal before the next international break, there are no imminent soft opportunities to rotate. Players do not get ‘rested’ for matches of that magnitude - only dropped - and any shift in the various pecking orders would be big calls.

But if Maresca is to keep what appears a state of genuine harmony and healthy competition in tact throughout this campaign, he must at some stage find a way to show that the carrot he is dangling is real.

Chelsea’s second string, many of whom are freshly signed and desperate to impress, have embraced the lesser competitions in these early weeks of the season as an opportunity to do just that. You could forgive, however, motivation waning by the time they go to, say, Kazakhstan, to face Astana in the cold of mid-December, if forcing entry to the first XI does not look a realistic shot.

Shirts ought not to be handed out as charity and given the fatigue element of a Thursday night game in Athens, Maresca will be justified if, as looks likely, he changes his entire team again when the Toon visit Stamford Bridge this weekend.

But sooner or later in what could be a marathon season, he will need most parts of this enviably deep squad - to compete in Europe, yes, but at home as well.