Chelsea need to master squad rotation

Alejandro Garnacho, Cole Palmer, Reece James, Marc Cucurella and Tyrique George made an impact as substitutes - but there are questions about how Maresca uses his squad.

Enzo Maresca and the vast majority of Chelsea's players enter what, for them, is uncharted territory this season - having to balance the demands of the Premier League with the Champions League.

It will deliver another layer of pressure to rotate well, rest big players and still get results on all fronts.

Of course, Chelsea were not in Europe at all two seasons ago and regularly played a different 11 in Uefa's third-tier Conference League competition last season.

The big games come thick and fast now - a trip to Bayern Munich on Wednesday, a visit to Manchester United next Saturday.

Maresca's team selection raised a few eyebrows but he had issues relating to players coming back late from international duty in South America, plus injuries to contend with and a need not to overload James, who started both of England's matches.

"Before the game Joao Pedro told me that he was not 100% fit [and said] it is better [that he] doesn't play," Maresca explained. "And so if I was thinking about Bayern Munich, Joao was on the bench.

"Cole was not fit to play from the start. We planned 45 minutes for Wes [Fofana], because he was a long time out.

"We planned not all the game for Jorrel [Hato], because we said already many times, when you arrive from another country, you need time to adapt. Facundo joined us two weeks ago. His physicality also is not 100%.

"But we needed to manage different situations, like Estevao that was out."