Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca admitted he must continue to “protect players” if they are to remain battling on all fronts this season.
The Blues head to Wolves on Wednesday in the Carabao Cup fourth round looking to produce a response after their winning run was ended by a last-gasp Premier League defeat to Sunderland at Stamford Bridge.
Maresca, though, feels he has little option other than to utilise the squad, with striker Liam Delap one of those back in contention following his injury lay-off.
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“We need to rotate. We need to protect the players because if we go with the same XI, we are going to struggle during the season,” Maresca told a press conference.
“We probably will make some changes against Wolves, I don’t know how many, but we will make changes.
“I don’t know if it’s going to be nine or 10 like it was from (Nottingham) Forest to Ajax (in the Champions League), but for sure, we need to make some to rotate and help protect the players.
“There are players that need to be protected for many reasons, so tomorrow we will see. Enzo (Fernandez), Moi (Caicedo), Joao (Pedro) – they are all players, for different reasons, we need to protect them.”
Delap, a big money summer signing from relegated Ipswich, has been out of action since the end of August with a hamstring problem, but returned to training last week so should be back in the squad at Molineux.
“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 per cent.”
Despite the disappointment of Saturday’s loss to a stoppage-time goal from Sunderland substitute Chemsdine Talbi, Maresca feels his squad are heading in the right direction, having impressed when beating Liverpool before a young side thrashed Ajax 5-1.
“You need consistency if you want to have a good season. After four wins in a row, unfortunately we dropped points against Sunderland, but now we move on and we focus on tomorrow’s game,” Maresca said.
“Chelsea has to try to win games and to try to win competitions, so for me personally, all the competitions are important.”
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