Enzo Maresca faces a host of tough decisions on Sunday as Chelsea kick off their 2025/26 Premier League season with a London derby against Crystal Palace.
The Blues have had an unprecedented pre-season campaign – with just two games played over the course of three days – due to the FIFA Club World Cup that concluded just over one month ago. Maresca and his players have not had much time at all to prepare for the new campaign but they will have to be ready when the Eagles visit Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Regarding what team the Chelsea head coach puts out, well that is very much up in the air at the moment. It is difficult to figure out exactly what the Italian is thinking in terms of the personnel he fields in SW6. football.london‘s Chelsea contingent of Bobby Vincent and Tom Coley have put themselves in Maresca’s shoes…
Bobby Vincent
Robert Sanchez starts, obviously. Reece James on the right of defence, with Tosin Adarabioyo and Trevoh Chalobah in the middle, and Marc Cucurella on the left. Chelsea need to be careful with Wesley Fofana given his injury record.
Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez start in the centre of midfield – that essentially picks itself at this point. Although it would be great to see Andrey Santos and Dario Essugo get some sort of minutes. In front of them is a little bit more difficult to choose.
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Estevao Willian was very exciting in Chelsea’s mini pre-season but Pedro Neto has to start. The Portugal international showed his undeniable quality during the Club World Cup and the Blues will be hoping he can produce similar form in the Premier League, alongside Cole Palmer, who returned to his brilliant best in the United States.
Perhaps Joao Pedro starts on the left-hand side with Jamie Gittens being eased in. The former is a versatile forward and that was one of the several reasons Chelsea decided to spend big money on him earlier in the summer. And that of course leaves a space in the No.9 spot for Liam Delap.
Bobby’s line-up: Sanchez; James, Tosin, Chalobah, Cucurella, Caicedo, Fernandez; Neto, Palmer, Joao Pedro; Delap
Tom Coley
There aren’t too many places up for grabs in this Chelsea team so I’m not too foo far away from Bobby here. Sanchez is one of nine players I have also included.
It’s the same backline as well with Chalobah filling in for Levi Colwill on the left. There is maybe a suggestion that Santos could start ahead of Fernandez, who was a bit undercooked against Milan.
It feels unlikely that Maresca would change what has been his tried, tested, and trusted double act. Santos and Essugo are both going to be exceptional options from the bench, at least to start with, in adding energy to matches or killing them off.
It is the attack where we differ. Estevao was too bright not to play. Whether that means leaving Neto out (harshly) or shifting him to the left, it doesn’t matter. They are the two wingers who can cause the most problems immediately, so they should start together.
Gittens hasn’t done much wrong but might be more threatening from the bench. I have him on the left as he is more natural than Neto on that side, but Maresca cannot really go wrong, no matter what he does in these areas.
Palmer is the No.10, of course. Instead of having Delap and Pedro, I have changed things. Pedro has scored from five of his first seven shots for Chelsea, why move him away from those threatening positions?
Sure, at some point this season we will see them together but for now, get 90 minutes of relentless running by using one as a sub.
Tom’s line-up: Sanchez; James, Tosin, Chalobah, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Estevao, Palmer, Gittens; Joao Pedro.
