Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca met the media today, ahead of tomorrow’s EFL Cup clash at Wolverhampton Wanderers. It was a very informative session, as he provided availability/match fitness updates on several players, including the likes of Liam Delap, Enzo Fernandez, Joao Pedro and Moises Caicedo.
All four are match fit, none of them are injured, but at the same time, we will only see them in a limited capacity, if at all, tomorrow.
League Cup 4th Round FYIs
Chelsea FC at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Kickoff: Wed. Oct. 29th, 7:45pm, Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, UK
Chelsea Preview Material: Team News Predicted Starting XI
Blues Fitness/Availability Updates
Let’s start with Delap, who will be available for the first time since late August, when he suffered a hamstring injury. He’ll be eased back into it, and on a pitch count of sorts.
“Liam completed the whole session with us yesterday with no problems and he is available for tomorrow,” Maresca said. “We have to be careful with Liam and [it is unlikely he will play] 90 minutes, no. He has been out for two months, so he needs to be gradually brought back up to 100 percent.”
Delap is in a very different category from the other three players, who have been putting in a major workload lately. Maresca made it rather clear that the trio will be rested tomorrow. He also provided a few quotes about all the squad rotation that he plans to do tomorrow.
“Yeah, probably they are players that need to be protected for many reasons,” Maresca said, regarding Enzo, Caicedo and Pedro.
“So, probably tomorrow we’ll see. But yeah, Enzo, Moises, Joao, they are all players that, for different reasons, we need to protect them.”
Maybe there is an outside chance that these guys make a cameo, but in general, the goal here is to simply not “overcook” them.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter