Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca will take a much-changed squad to Kazakhstan for tomorrow night's Conference League clash with Astana – with Noni Madueke one of his senior players not traveling.
Chelsea cruised through their matches in Europe's third-tier competition, winning all four matches to move to the top of the table and virtually guarantee automatic qualification to the round of 16.
With a busy festive period and an eight-hour flight looming, Maresca admits there will be a youthful outlook on his side.
In response to a question about whether this match was an opportunity to rest the senior players, he said: “Some of them will be here (in England) and some of them will travel with us. We will try, one way or another, to manage things in the same way we have done until today. We have many young players with us and the rest will work here.” “
5,606 kilometers away from home for our next trip #UECL clash. ✈️🌏 pic.twitter.com/5KPsk3MuFj
– Chelsea (@ChelseaFC) December 11, 2024
Madueke will remain in the UK as the England winger is set to return to the starting line-up for the clash with Brentford at the weekend with Pedro Neto suspended after picking up a booking in the thrilling 4-3 win over Tottenham on Sunday.
Encouraging update on Acheampong
Teenager Josh Acheampong is likely to start tomorrow with Maresca revealing that the highly-rated defender is close to agreeing a new contract after the clash that reportedly resulted in him being frozen out.
The Italian said: “With Josh, everything is completely clear. We all love Josh, the club loves Josh, I love Josh, and we are trying to reach an agreement. We are close, we are almost there. We will see.”
He added: “He is in the team and will likely play from the beginning.”
Chelsea are favorites to win the Conference League, but Maresca wasn't looking that far, preferring instead to focus on the here and now.
“No, I already said about this competition that the main goal is to move to the next stage and the next stage,” he said. “The goal is to move to the next stage, and if we achieve the next goal, we will move to the next stage. I don't like to think about things in four or five months.
“It's not about ambition. I'm very ambitious and the players and the club are ambitious, but in my opinion if you think about things in four or five months, you might lose some focus at the moment.”
Players will remain in English time
The trip to Kazakhstan presents a logistical challenge, but Chelsea's players will remain in English time in a bid to minimize disruption.
“We have a session now and then we'll fly over there. We'll have dinner and sleep. Fortunately, they're five hours ahead of us, which means when we wake up tomorrow, it'll be midday here in England,” Mariska said.
“We'll be there in less than 24 hours, but it's about the flight and the temperature (-11 degrees Celsius) for sure. Friday morning, we'll land in London around 6am, and it's already Friday and we have a game on Sunday, but we have to play.”
