Chelsea: Enzo Maresca facing crucial new squad dilemma that could define season | OneFootball

Blues boss must choose whether to stick with his ‘A’ and ‘B’ team split as cup games dry up or seek to strike a difficult balance

Winter arrived at Cobham during the international break and with it perhaps just the first suggestions of a little discontent.

Last week, it was reported that striker Christopher Nkunku is considering his Chelsea future because of a lack of Premier League game time this season, having not started a match since the opening day.

And on the one hand, if the Frenchman has indeed got the hump, it is easy enough to see why. He can hardly have done more to press his case when given the chance, scoring nine times in seven games across the Carabao Cup and Conference League.

Throw in a 10th, a late winner off the bench in the league at Bournemouth, and Nkunku is clear as the Blues' top scorer across all competitions this term.

But it is also difficult to knock Enzo Maresca’s rationale for leaving him out of his first-choice team. Nicolas Jackson is progressing nicely, with six league goals, three assists and an all-round game that is slowly becoming more refined. His pace and hard-running suits Chelsea’s threat in transition and stretches teams, providing space for the likes of Cole Palmer to play.

Dilemma: Will Enzo Maresca be forced to give the likes of Joao Felix and Christopher Nkunku more Premier League game time?

Getty Images

Maresca has been publicly sympathetic, both to Nkunku and others, like Joao Felix, who still has not started a league game since returning from Atletico Madrid. He has stressed, too, that everyone is capable of playing their way into his best side, but reality thus far broadly disagrees.

All but the very best players at modern elite clubs accept that they will not start every match, and might endure runs out of the team, but the Chelsea example, with so many such high-profile (and high-cost) players in that position, is unique.

This was always going to become an issue, given Chelsea’s second-string were always going to impress against the poor opposition thrown their way. But it is one which Maresca will have to navigate in the coming weeks, as the meaningful cup matches dry up, the league schedule becomes more jammed and the January transfer window nears. Does the Italian stick with the ‘A’ and ‘B’ team split that, whatever his insistence, has been so clear so far this term?

If so, for the latter party, the coming weeks do not promise much. Chelsea are out of the Carabao Cup, seen off in the last round by Newcastle, but already well on their way to the required top-eight group stage finish in Europe. Beat Heidenheim (14th in the Bundesliga and winless in five) at home next week and it will be pretty much a done thing.

Get the balance wrong and Maresca risks not only hitting a wall in the top-four race, but also the possibility that more of his fringe players might look to leave

Then there is only what will probably be a dead rubber against Shamrock Rovers and, before that, an away trip to Kazakhstan to play Astana. If Maresca’s wholesale rotation has not made his squad divide clear already, then sending half his players on a 7,000-mile round trip across five time zones ought to do the trick.

For the sake of both diplomacy and fatigue, though, Maresca will surely have to mix things up a little more from here. The latter has, thus far, been no factor, with the Italian essentially having a fully-rested XI ready to go for every game. Between now and January 4, though, Chelsea play 12 times in 39 days, nine of which are in the Premier League.

Get the balance wrong during that run and Maresca risks not only hitting a wall in the top-four race, but also the possibility that more of his fringe players (and, no doubt, their agents) might be amenable to options elsewhere in January. Nail it, though, and the Premier League’s deepest squad should come through the festive period a unified force, and fresher than most.