Chelsea are back in action and will be looking to bounce back from their defeat at Anfield to Liverpool when they travel to Athens to face Panathinaikos in the second gameweek of the Conference League.

Enzo Maresca has so far rotated his squad heavily in cup and Conference League games and given his top players a break for Premier League games. This game is no different as Maresca opted to leave Levi Colwill, Reece James, Moises Caicedo and Nicolas Jackson behind in London to be ready for Saturday’s game against Newcastle.

These players join other regulars who will not feature in the game, such as Cole Palmer, Wesley Fofana and Romeo Lavia, who were not even registered in Chelsea’s squad for the league stage of the Conference League.

Even taking the absences into account, the Blues still have more than enough talent to defeat a team that currently sits sixth in the Greek Super League. Chelsea’s squad strength is a strength of the team and Maresca has done his best to take advantage of it.

Chelsea could face Panathinaikos in the Conference League.

TW: Filip Jörgensen—The Danish goalkeeper has been Chelsea’s cup goalkeeper since his arrival from Villarreal in the summer. After sustaining a head injury while playing for the Denmark U-21 national team, he passed concussion protocol.

LB: Renato Veiga—The Portuguese international surprisingly missed the starting eleven against Liverpool due to James’ season debut. He played solidly at left-back and scored his first Chelsea goal in the team’s final Conference League game against Gent.

CB: Benoît Badiashile—The 23-year-old Frenchman appears to be Levi Colwill’s clear replacement. After showing promise in his first few months with the Blues, he appears to have fallen down the depth chart since the arrival of more prominent centre-backs such as Colwill.

CB: Tosin Adarabioyo— Adarabioyo started against Liverpool and struggled with the speed of the Reds’ attacking players.

RB: Axel Disasi—Disasi was brought in as a centre-back and has been playing most of his time at right-back lately to give both Gusto and James some rest. He had an assist against Gent.

CM: Enzo Fernández –Fernández could be in serious danger of seeing his minutes in the Premier League drop. Caicedo and Lavia were bright spots in the defeat at Anfield and Fernández appears to be the underdog. The 2022 World Cup winner must use this opportunity to show Maresca that he is still one of the club’s best midfielders.

CM: Kieran Dewsbury Hall –The former Leicester City player followed Maresca to Chelsea in the summer and looked good in the game against Gent, scoring his first goal for the Blues.

LW: Mykhaylo Mudryk—Many thought the Ukrainian’s speed and directness could be valuable against Liverpool, but Maresca didn’t even include him in the squad. Mudryk needs to start putting in strong performances or his future at Chelsea could be in doubt.

AM: Joao Felix—Félix has only scored once since returning to Chelsea. With Palmer being his main competition, there is no clear path for him to get more minutes in the league.

RW: Pedro Neto— Neto played 45 minutes after coming on as a substitute for Jadon Sancho at the weekend after England failed to find a way past Trent Alexander-Arnold. If he continues to perform well in the Conference League, both Sancho and Noni Madueke could make way for him in the Premier League.

ST: Christopher Nkunku— Despite his reduced role, Nkunku has put the ball in the net seven times for Chelsea this season. Nicolas Jackson’s positive development has relegated Nkunku to the bench in the Premier League, but if he continues to score points in his limited minutes, Maresca will soon have to consider a system change to use both centre-forwards at the same time.

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