Chelsea have Nicolas Jackson back in the starting lineup for tonight’s Conference League final against Real Betis.
Jackson has missed the last two Premier League games through suspension after being sent off in the 2-0 defeat at Newcastle earlier this month.
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Despite the absence of their first-choice centre-forward, however, Chelsea beat both Manchester United and Nottingham Forest to secure a fourth-place finish and return to the Champions League next season.
Still, Jackson returns to lead the line, with Maresca concerned about the tight turnaround from Sunday’s trip to the City Ground. Betis, by contrast, played their final LaLiga game almost 48 hours earlier on Friday night against Valencia.
Maresca had already confirmed that Filip Jorgensen will replace Robert Sanchez in goal for Chelsea, having played all but one of the games in this competition so far.
Trevoh Chalobah comes back into the defence having been unlucky to lose his place in the league over the last fortnight.
Maresca has also tended to be cautious with Reece James’s workload and the club captain does not start consecutive games in the space of three days. Malo Gusto instead comes in at right-back.
Marc Guiu, who was the competition’s top scorer during the league phase, returned to the matchday squad against Forest, having been sidelined since early February through injury, and is on the bench too. Christopher Nkunku is included in the squad after a month out.
Romeo Lavia is ineligible having been left out of Chelsea’s European squad to manage his workload.
Starting XI: Jorgensen, Gusto, Chalobah, Badiashile, Cucurella, Caicedo, Fernandez, Madueke, Palmer, Neto, Jackson
Subs: Sanchez, Bergstrom, Tosin, Colwill, Acheampong, James, Amougou, Dewsbury-Hall, George, Sancho, Nkunku, Guiu
Time and date: 8pm BST on Wednesday May 28, 2025
Venue: Stadion Miejski, Wroclaw (Poland)
How to watch: TNT Sports
Referee: Irfan Peljto (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
