Atalanta vs Chelsea – Team News: Academy youngster trusted at last | OneFootball

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

Here are the full team line-ups for Atalanta vs Chelsea (kick off at 20:00 GMT)

CHELSEA:

Chelsea’s team to face Atalanta in the Champions League.

Enzo Maresca faces big questions every time he picks a lineup at the moment – he’s got league and Champions League to balance, players form, fitness and freshness to think about, on top of keeping the squad happy.

After a run of 3 games without a win the manager takes as few chances as possible here.

Robert Sanchez is in goal, while at right back Josh Acheampong gets his first start since the Wolves game.

In the middle of defence Wesley Fofana isn’t risked, so Benoit Badiashile steps in to play alongside Trevoh Chalobah. Marc Cucurella’s rest will have to wait and he starts again tonight.

In midfield it’s great news to see the suspended Moises Caicedo available. He plays alongside Reece James in the middle, with Enzo Fernandez ahead of them.

The front three has Pedro Neto on the right and a surprise start for Jamie Gittens on the left, just as we expected Alejandro Garnacho back in.

The out of form Joao Pedro leads the line, hoping for a goal.

There is not much firepower on the bench, apart from the aforementioned Garnacho. The recently recovered Cole Palmer hasn’t travelled. That means it will be down to Tyrique George, Estevao Willian or Marc Guiu to try and made a difference off the bench if we need a goal later on.

In other news…

Gianfranco Zola has been speaking about Enzo Maresca, and he’s more positive about the coach than some fans might be at the moment.

Chelsea’s social media silence over one player this week was very notable – it doesn’t look like things are getting sorted out in this case anytime soon.