Enzo Maresca hints he could break players’ hearts with team selection in final | OneFootball

Enzo Maresca has just taken his press conference after Chelsea’s win over Djurgarden in the Conference League, and he was asked how happy he was to progress to a European final:

“We were trying to work every day to reach the final, now we are in the final,” the manager said.

“Now the next step is try to win this competition. We have 20 days to prepare the final. Before that, we have three more finals, Premier League finals, and hopefully we can finish in the right way.”

Maresca’s hints about team selection for the final

Chelsea group celebrate a goal. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

While attention will now of course turn back to the thrilling conclusion of the Premier League, there is one question on everyone’s mind. Will Enzo stick with the same group of players that got him to this final in that game against Real Betis in Wroclaw? Or, with the Premier League season over at that point, will he wheel out the big guns?

On the one hand, it’s desperately unfair on the likes of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Tyrique George and Josh Acheampong, who have played almost every game in the competition to get dumped out just when it really matters. On the other hand… it’s the coach’s job to play the best team to win the competition.

Maresca’s answer to that question tried to remain neural but did seem to hint he would be playing his strongest team:

“No, yeah, we have four more games, official games until the end. Three Premier League games and then the final. Now the most important game for us is Newcastle. We have 20 days to prepare the final and we see game after game. We’re going to choose for every game the best 11.

The “best XI” for final only points one way

The “best XI”… it sounds like Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson better start warming up.