'Huge effort' - Enzo Maresca hints he will rest 3 Chelsea players against Lincoln City

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has hinted that three players are not likely to play against Lincoln City on Tuesday night. The Blues head to Lincolnshire for the Carabao Cup third round on Tuesday evening, and they will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing away defeat to Manchester United.

Chelsea lost Robert Sanchez to a red card in the opening minutes, and they were two goals down by the time Casemiro was sent off with the second half still to play. Maresca’s men got a goal back late on, but they were not able to turn around the two-goal deficit, and they will be hoping for better against Brighton this weekend.

Though, first they have to take care of business against League One side Lincoln City, who are third so far in the third tier. Speaking ahead of that one, Maresca has provided an injury update, hinting that three players are likely to sit the game out, or at least drop out of the Starting XI,

“Cole is probably the only one that we need to assess a little bit,” said the Italian. “The rest are okay, just recovering from last week. He already made a huge effort last Saturday to try and play the game. He tried Saturday morning, he was not 100 per cent, but he wanted to be there to help his team-mates in that kind of game. It was painful [for him], so we decided to change. We await day by day to see how he is and then decide what we do.

“Cole is one, and then we have some players who have had problems for a long time like Moises Caicedo and Joao Pedro. They are trying to manage it a little bit themselves, but then the rest are okay.”

Maresca also confirmed that Benoit Badiashile and Romero Lavia will remain out after weeks on the sidelines. He added: “They will not be back for this game, unfortunately,' he continued. 'They both took part in the session yesterday, which is good news, and hopefully they can be available soon.”

Chelsea are naturally big favourites to win this game, but Maresca wants his men to be on guard for an upset. He continued: “You can sleep very easy in these kind of games. Football is full of these games. I am very worried about that, but for sure, we will have some players from the academy, like we have always done.”

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