Predicted Chelsea line-up vs Cardiff City: Heavy rotation with Cole Palmer absent | OneFootball

Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has confirmed that he plans to make quite a few rotations for Tuesday's Carabao Cup quarter-final tie against Cardiff City.

The home win over Everton last Saturday was a huge relief for Chelsea after a four-game winless streak, as they climbed back up to fourth.

However, Maresca had to go all out with his team selection and several key players played a full 90-minute game.

It is easy to see why the Italian is keen on rotating his team for the visit to the Cardiff City Stadium, especially given that he will also have to keep Saturday's trip to Newcastle United in mind.

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"We're going to make some changes," the Chelsea head coach said in his press conference on Monday.

"We'll see how many, but for sure we have players that in the last 12, 13 days, they've played five games.

"So they need to probably recover energy."

Robert Sanchez has started every game for Chelsea since November, but Maresca may use Filip Jorgensen for this game and give the former some rest.

The Denmark international was in goal when Chelsea beat Wolves in late October in the fourth round.

Both Reece James and Malo Gusto played the full game against Everton, so Josh Acheampong, who played as a right-back against Atalanta, could get the nod in this role.

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Jorrel Hato, on the other hand, is likely to get his first appearance in over a month in place of Marc Cucurella on the left.

For the centre-back posts, Benoit Badiashile is expected to replace Wesley Fofana, whose minutes are still being managed.

Badiashile will likely be paired with Trevoh Chalobah, who has proved to be remarkably reliable this season.

The problem is that Chalobah has played quite a lot of games, so Maresca could decide to give him some rest and start Tosin Adarabioyo instead.

In midfield, Andrey Santos will almost certainly start in place of Reece James. He is expected to play alongside Moises Caicedo, who is back after his suspension.

For the number 10 spot, on-loan midfielder Facundo Buonanotte could feature for the first time in over a month, similar to Hato.

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Bear in mind that Maresca already confirmed that Cole Palmer will not make the trip to Wales.

On the flanks, Estevao and Jamie Gittens are expected to start, while up front, it is either Marc Guiu or Tyrique George, but the former seems to be ahead in the pecking order at the moment.

Predicted Chelsea line-up (4-2-3-1) vs Cardiff City

Goalkeeper: Filip Jorgensen

Defenders: Josh Acheampong, Trevoh Chalobah, Benoit Badiashile, Jorrel Hato

Midfielders: Andrey Santos, Moises Caicedo, Facundo Buonanotte