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European away days were not so taxing for Chelsea last season. They were too good for the Conference League and were able to win it even though Enzo Maresca often used those Thursday assignments to play his reserves and keep his best players fresh for the Premier League.
This time, though, the physical demands are tougher. Competing in the Champions League has been more sapping and Maresca has to work out how to strike the right balance when his team face Qarabag at the Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium on Wednesday evening, in their fourth game of the league phase.
There is no mistaking the 5,000-mile round trip to Azerbaijan for a free hit. Chelsea followed up defeat at Bayern Munich in their opening game by recording wins against Benfica and Ajax, but there is work to do if they are to finish in the top eight and avoid the playoff round. Qarabag, who have also taken six points from their three games, are not to be taken lightly. They have made huge strides under Gurban Gurbanov, who has been in his post for 17 years, and are unrecognisable from the team that lost 6-0 and 4-0 against Chelsea in the Champions League’s group stage in 2017.
Qarabag have beaten Benfica and FC Copenhagen this season and took an early lead against Athletic Bilbao before losing 3-1 in their most recent tie. “They are a very good team,” Maresca said before a five-and-a-half-hour flight to Baku on Tuesday afternoon. “They are a very intense team. The way they press, the way they work together as a team, you can see that it’s many, many years with the same manager.”
The question for Maresca is how strong to go given that Chelsea’s deep squad is not in peak condition. Pedro Neto is the latest to succumb to injury. Maresca hopes the Portugal winger will make a swift return but it is another indication that Chelsea are feeling the consequences of last summer’s Club World Cup.
The treatment room has been busy. Levi Colwill is a long-term absentee and Benoît Badiashile is out. There was some positivity regarding Cole Palmer, who has been nursing a groin injury since 21 September, but Maresca would not commit to the playmaker returning in time for home games against Barcelona and Arsenal this month.
Others are managing workloads. Moisés Caicedo and Enzo Fernández have mostly played on in midfield despite not being able to train at full speed. João Pedro has battled on in attack while Palmer and Liam Delap have been out.
Delap, who missed last Saturday’s win against Tottenham after picking up a brainless red card against Wolves in the Carabao Cup, is available again. Maresca suggested that the striker could start in Baku. Other changes are also likely. “We need to rotate,” said Maresca, who will not have a lot of time to prepare for a visit from Wolves on Saturday night. “We come back to London first thing in the morning. It’s a demanding schedule, but we’re going to try to adapt.”
Baku is four hours ahead but Chelsea plan to remain on British time. Maresca will hope his squad players can get the job done. The unconvincing Filip Jörgensen could start in goal. There may be opportunities for Jamie Gittens and Estêvão on the flanks; Andrey Santos and Roméo Lavia are available if Caicedo and Fernández are rested.
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There are limits to Caicedo’s extraordinary energy levels. It is less than ideal that Dário Essugo, the player signed to fill in for the Ecuador midfielder, is out until the new year. However, Maresca likes Santos in the same position and is pleased that Lavia is back from his latest injury. Chelsea are smoother when Lavia plays but the 21-year-old has had some growing pains. They have to be careful with him; it was a similar process with Reece James, who is finally back in a place where he can play three times a week.
“The main target for Roméo now is to be fit,” Maresca said. “Roméo is where Reece was more or less one year ago. We need to manage him every minute, every day, every second. We need to be very careful with him because we don’t want him to be out again. I would like to have Roméo on the pitch always but it’s my duty to protect him.”
Still, it would be a bonus if Caicedo and Fernández get the night off. It is a long, hard season. Chelsea have so much talent but the reserves sometimes let themselves down. They tore Wolves to shreds for 45 minutes last week, then lost focus in the second half and forced Maresca to introduce Marc Cucurella, Fernández and Caicedo. The same mistake cannot be made against Qarabag.
