Chelsea team news: Enzo Maresca makes surprise decisions for Leicester City game
Enzo Maresca makes several surprise inclusions in his Chelsea XI for the Premier League game at Leicester City on Saturday afternoon.
Enzo Maresca has made several surprise inclusions in his Chelsea XI for Saturday’s Premier League fixture at Leicester City.
Faced with a two-week international break, the likelihood appeared to be Maresca opting for an unchanged starting lineup from the game with Arsenal on November 10.
Instead, the Italian has opted to tinker with his team, most notably handing a first Premier League start since his return to Stamford Bridge to Joao Felix.
Pedro Neto, who netted against the Gunners, misses out on the squad entirely, presumably through injury despite Maresca saying at his pre-match press conference that only Reece James was unavailable.
Romeo Lavia has not been risked from the start after a minor issue kept him out of international action for Belgium. Enzo Fernandez gets the nod alongside Moises Caicedo in midfield.
Malo Gusto is another absentee in defence. The Frenchman would have been earmarked for a start at right-back – his 10th in 12 Premier League games – with James on the sidelines.
However, Gusto is also missing from the squad, Maresca choosing to use Wesley Fofana at right-back and include two left-footed central defenders in Benoit Badiashile and Levi Colwill in the middle.
On the substitutes’ bench, there is a return for Jadon Sancho after illness, ineligibility and injury kept him out of the games before the international break.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall is also named among the replacements on his first return to his former club.
© Imago
How many changes have Leicester made?
Meanwhile, Steve Cooper has made four changes to his Leicester City XI, one of them enforced due to the serious knee injury sustained by Abdul Fatawu.
Jannik Vestergaard, Facundo Buonanotte and Jordan Ayew are the other three players to miss out on a place in the team.
Caleb Okoli, Kasey McAteer, Bilal El Khannouss and Jamie Vardy are the quartet to be introduced into the side.
Leicester City XI: Hermansen; Justin, Faes, Okoli, Kristiansen; Winks, Soumare, Ndidi; McAteer, El Khannouss; Vardy
Subs: Ward, Coady, Thomas, Choudhury, Skipp, De Cordova-Reird, Mavididi, Ayew, Daka
Chelsea XI: Sanchez; Fofana, Badiashile, Colwill, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Madueke, Palmer, Felix; Jackson
Subs: Jorgensen, Bettinelli, Tosin, Veiga, Lavia, Dewsbury-Hall, Sancho, Mudryk, Nkunku
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