Maurizio Sarri is likely to field a heavily rotated squad on Wednesday as Chelsea travel to face Liverpool in a Carabao Cup third round clash.
Liverpool lock horns with Chelsea in the third round headliner in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday. Chelsea are likely to field a heavily rotated squad. Maurizio Sarri will be looking to give chances to fringe players and youngsters at Anfield in order to rest key stars.
Willy Caballero should start in goal, with Kepa Arrizabalaga likely to be handed a rest. The centre-back area should see a new partnership, with Andreas Christensen and Gary Cahill the rumoured pairing Chelsea are going to go with. Assistant manager Gianfranco Zola hinted at the same during the pre-match conference.
“We have a lot of players, we didn’t do a big pre-season, so these games can serve also as a pre-season, to give time to players like Christensen, Cahill, who haven’t had opportunities to get games.”
Emerson Palmieri is fit and is likely to come into the lineup to provide some much-needed rest to Marcos Alonso, who also started against PAOK last midweek. Davide Zappacosta should replace Cesar Azpilicueta on the right.
The midfield is an interesting prospect. Ethan Ampadu is one of the players that are certain to be given a chance. So is Ross Barkley, who looked sprightly during his last couple of shifts. Ruben Loftus-Cheek would have ideally been the third man in midfield. But, Zola confirmed that the Englishman will sit the game out due to injury, which means we could see Cesc Fabregas start.
Gianfranco Zola also provided an update for Pedro, lamenting that the Spaniard is still recovering and will likely not be named in the starting lineup on Wednesday.
“Ruben has had an injection and is still recovering. It is very unlikely he will be part of the game tomorrow. Pedro is recovering very well, but it’s tough for them to be part of the game tomorrow.”
Callum Hudson-Odoi is one player that is drawing a lot of interest from Chelsea fans and people, in general. Zola highlighted the importance of patience while also iterating that the club is well aware of the youngster’s potential.
“Callum did really well this pre-season. He is one of the players who impressed the most, along with Ethan Ampadu. They are both in contention for tomorrow, both in the squad. Callum and Ethan are the future of this club and we are going to take care of them.”
“When we played the Community Shield Callum was put in front of players like Victor Moses. If he didn’t have value, we wouldn’t have done that. But he is in a very competitive team with a lot of players. He also has to be patient, wait for his opportunities and when they come, take them in the best way.”
Alvaro Morata should start upfront, with Victor Moses also being handed a rare chance to impress.
