The team news for Chelsea’s game against Newcastle this afternoon is out, and the much awaited lineup tells us a lot about what Enzo Maresca is thinking.
The suspensions to Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana last week, combined with the return of Reece James from injury, meant that Maresca changed things up at in defence last week, and he’s stuck with the same back 4 today. It was a clue that Cucurella started in midweek, and that clue ultimately correctly predicted he’d be benched today.
We had the same feeling about Enzo Fernandez too – he didn’t start last week after a late return from international duty with Argentina. That then made him ready to play this midweek – but that start was also a foreshadowing of his exit from Maresca’s first team plans. It’s tough to drop someone who cost £100m, but last week’s rest provided the perfect cover, and now there’s no doubt that Romeo Lavia and Moises Caicedo are the coach’s preferred pair of pivots.
Sancho in the same boat
With Jadon Sancho the decision to drop him is a little easier – after a bright start he’s been poor in our last few games as we’ve struggled to break teams down. He’s had just one shot in the Premier League all season, and was hauled off at half time against Liverpool as Maresca opted for the more dynamic Neto.
We predicted in midweek that this would mean Sancho dropped for this game – and that has come to pass. The manager will say that it’s all to do with the opposition – but it’s a home game against a team that will sit deep. These are the games Sancho was supposedly brought in to play, and so the manager’s answer will ring a little hollow.