Enzo Maresca ran wild with the rotation for Chelsea’s trip to Southampton on Wednesday – but the changes scarcely mattered as the Blues romped to a 5-1 win over rock-bottom Saints.
The Gameweek 14 Scout Notes continue with a one-sided affair at St Mary’s.
MARESCA ON ROTATION
We were in unknown territory with Enzo Maresca’s team selection policy going into Gameweek 14. Yes, he is fond of wholesale rotation in Europe – but would he also ring the changes for the first midweek Premier League match of 2024/25?
While it wasn’t an entirely new starting XI sent out against Southampton, it wasn’t far off. Cole Palmer (£11.0m), Marc Cucurella (£5.1m), Enzo Fernandez (£4.9m) and Moises Caicedo (£4.9m) were the only survivors from Sunday’s win over Aston Villa.
Previous league ever-presents Levi Colwill (£4.5m), Nicolas Jackson (£8.2m) and Robert Sanchez (£4.8m) were among the seven making way. With almost 890,000 transfers in, Jackson was the most-bought player of the Gameweek.
Quizzed on his rotation policy before and after the rout, Maresca made similar comments.
“I said many times because we have good players, they all deserve to play and get minutes. Since we start we are trying to share minutes, no matter the competition. We are convinced it’s the right way.” – Enzo Maresca speaking before the game on his seven changes
“In general, since we start, we try to change players no matter the competition. Today again we changed seven players, I think they were all good. It’s a good feeling.” – Enzo Maresca speaking after the game on his seven changes
What happens from here, then? Well, you’d expect the bulk of the ousted seven, including Jackson, to return on Sunday.
The following two midweeks are UEFA Conference League rounds, too, so the ‘B team’ – even though Maresca refuses to call them that – will likely soak up the minutes on the continent.
Above image from Legomane – click to expand
So the next period of concern for Jackson et al is Gameweeks 17-19.
The good thing is that the schedule is more forgiving. Then, Chelsea play Sunday-Thursday-Monday. This week, it was Sunday-Wednesday-Sunday. Perhaps there’ll be fewer thoughts about fatigue. Jackson being on four bookings ahead of a huge game also might not be a factor – not that Maresca suggested it was this time.
But with the Chelsea boss pledging to “share minutes, no matter the competition”, Christmas may bring with it a second round of teamsheet shocks.
SANCHEZ BACK FOR GAMEWEEK 15
Even Sanchez wasn’t safe, his place taken by Filip Jorgensen (£4.2m).
Was this a changing of the guards between the posts and the emergence of an even cheaper Chelsea goalkeeper?
In a word, no.
“[Sunday] we are going to play Sanchez plus 10 players. The only one sure is Sanchez.” – Enzo Maresca on Sunday’s trip to Tottenham Hotspur
While Sanchez looks set to return in Gameweek 15, the same Christmas minutes caveat may apply to the Spanish shot-stopper in Gameweek 18 or 19.
MADUEKE “CAN DO MUCH MORE”
Having seen a run of 11 successive starts ended in Gameweek 13, Noni Madueke (£6.3m) was back in the starting XI here.
The winger duly responded with a goal and an assist, moving up to sixth in the FPL midfielders points’ table.
It could and should have been more, with the winger responsible for missing a handful of clear-cut opportunities on either side of his excellent curling strike. Seven shots is the highest tally of any player in Gameweek 14 so far.
Maresca gave him lukewarm praise after full-time.
“With Noni, I have personal relation in terms of he can do much more. He can do much more. The moment he starts to score or assist and is happy, he starts to drop a little bit and the reason why he was not playing [against Aston Villa] is because I do not like the way he trained.
“He has to understand that he has to train every day good. He has to be ambitious. If he scored one tonight, he has to go for the second one and the third one. He has to be ambitious. He has to give more assists.
“But overall, he is doing great, he is doing fantastic. He is doing even better in terms of numbers – assists and goals. Noni has to understand he has to work more because he can be much, much, much better.” – Enzo Maresca on Noni Madueke
PALMER SWERVES HAUL, CHELSEA’S RECORD XG
5.29 – Chelsea’s xG tonight was the most Opta has on record (2008-09 onwards) by an away team in a Premier League match (5.29). Domination. pic.twitter.com/dnAEyOMt61
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 4, 2024
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It’s not often a team scores five goals and still underachieves on the xG front. Chelsea racked up a season-best 12 big chances in this game, according to Opta, spurning nine of them.
How Palmer emerged from this match with only seven points is a mystery.
After hitting the woodwork with a glorious chance early on, he saw Joao Felix (£6.1m) waste a sitter he supplied the Portuguese attacker with. A Fantasy assist would also have been his had Madueke been half a second quicker to the loose ball when Palmer’s shot was spilled.
A goal was eventually his when he tucked in Christopher Nkunku‘s (£5.8m) trundling, goalbound shot in the 76th minute.
Nkunku had earlier pounced on a characteristic Saints error to make it 2-1, while surprise starter Alex Disasi (£4.2m) nodded in the game’s opener. A fifth attacking return in four games for Enzo Fernandez (£4.9m), who supplied the corner.
After strikes from Madueke and Palmer, substitute Jadon Sancho (£6.2m) lashed in Chelsea’s fifth. That was his first goal in a Chelsea shirt.
SORRY SAINTS
Joe Aribo (£4.9m) had briefly restored parity but Saints were already 3-1 down and shipping chances for fun by the time they were reduced to 10 men. Jack Stephens (£4.0m) saw red this time, his second dismissal of the season – so a four-match ban awaits.
Not exactly awash with centre-halves, Russell Martin also revealed that Jan Bednarek (£4.0m) had been due to play but felt discomfort on the eve of the game.
Martin will, at least, get Taylor Harwood-Bellis (£4.1m), along with Tyler Dibling (£4.5m) and Flynn Downes (£4.8m), back from a ban this weekend.
