Chelsea were given a bit of a reality check at Elland Road on Wednesday evening with their long-time rivals Leeds United having too much for the disappointing Blues
There was always going to be some form of rotation from Enzo Maresca at Leeds United. Just over three days had passed since the intense, gruelling 1-1 draw with Arsenal, where Chelsea were forced to play the majority of the game with a man less than the Gunners.
Maresca has always been a head coach to rotate – something the club’s board are completely behind – and given Chelsea’s unusual situation, where they had a 13-day pre-season campaign, the Italian has been set an even more complicated task of getting the best out of his squad.
Though when Maresca does decide to make multiple changes, with five alterations to his side on Wednesday night, he needs the players coming in to step up to the task. Prove themselves to him. But there were a few at Elland Road that did the opposite.
Not least Tosin Adarabioyo. The 28-year-old defender is the most senior within the Chelsea squad and given the notoriously fierce and hostile atmosphere at Elland Road, particularly when the Blues come to town, you can forgive Maresca for thinking Tosin was the right man for the challenge ahead.
Tosin, though, crumbled under the pressure – see Leeds’ third and final goal of the night for an example. Hindsight, of course, is a wonderful thing, but supporters were left baffled pre-match with the head coach’s decision to start Tosin.
Especially when Josh Acheampong was sitting on the bench. There was perhaps an element of wanting to protect Acheampong, who is still only 19 years old, but the England Under-21 international has already shown he is more than capable of excelling in the senior side.
Since making three consecutive starts against Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Sunderland, Acheampong has not featured for Chelsea in the Premier League. Over the course of those three games, the Cobham graduate was the star man in Maresca’s defence.
Speaking on Tuesday morning, Maresca was asked about a lack of minutes for Acheampong in recent times and the Chelsea head coach put it down to the form of others in his position. “He’s very good,” Maresca said on Acheampong. “The only thing, I mean, it’s something nice for me, and it’s something nice for the club, is that at the moment our central defenders are doing very well.
“Wes [Fofana] is doing well, Trev [Chalobah] is doing well, Josh is doing well. This is what we need in terms of central defenders. It’s just a matter to find the right moment when we give him the chance.”
If said chance is not in the centre of defence, it could be in midfield for Acheampong. Maresca has said on multiple occasions that the teenager is capable of doing a job in the middle of the pitch, and with Moises Caicedo suspended for the next two Premier League games against Bournemouth and Everton, it appears to be the perfect opportunity to throw the versatile defender in there.
On Saturday, though, when Chelsea travel down to the south coast to take on Bournemouth, it seems fairly safe to assume that Reece James will be getting some minutes in midfield. The Chelsea skipper was given a rest in Leeds on Wednesday, as was Wesley Fofana, who didn’t even travel with the rest of the squad.
Both have been in fine form recently and are set to come back into the XI at the Vitality Stadium. It begs the question, where do Acheampong’s next minutes come from?
