Enzo Maresca to make wholesale Chelsea changes vs Astana as six youngsters added to squad

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca is hoping he will not need any of the players that face Astana in Thursday’s Conference League match when his side host Brentford in the Premier League on Sunday.

Chelsea have taken a number of special measures for their trip to Kazakhstan – an eight-hour flight before a match due to be played in temperatures expected to reach minus 11 – and Maresca will be using the full depth of his large squad to minimise the impact on their league campaign.

Youngsters Ato Ampah, Harrison McMahon, Kaiden Wilson, Richard Olise, Josh Acheampong and Harrison Murray-Campbell have been added to the squad and Maresca said he planned to include at least a couple of them from the start.

Chelsea sit top of the Conference League standings with four wins from four and second in the Premier League, four points behind Liverpool.

Asked if he wanted to use two different teams for the next two games, Maresca said: “You never know because the ones not involved tomorrow, they are going to be training and they have to train well.

“You never know if you need one of the guys who plays tomorrow on Sunday. But ideally we prefer not. We are going to land at 6am on Friday and it’s not normal for one of them, if they land at 6am on Friday, to play again on Sunday.”

Maresca said Acheampong is in line to start his first senior game in Astana and added the 18-year-old academy graduate is close to signing a new contract after his future at the club had appeared to come into question.

“He’s in the squad and is probably going to play from the start,” Maresca said. “With Josh, it’s quite clear, we all love Josh, the club love Josh and I love Josh. We are trying to find an agreement with the player. It’s close, we are almost there.”

However, Noni Madueke will remain at Cobham with an eye on Sunday, when he is expected to start against Brentford with Pedro Neto suspended for that match.

Sunday’s come-from-behind 4-3 win over Tottenham extended Chelsea’s winning streak to five games across all competitions.

They have scored more Premier League goals than any other side this season, but Maresca also pointed to their strong defensive record when asked about recent success.

“Just two teams have conceded less than us, so we are attacking and defending well,” he said.

“I’ve said before, you’re not going to win games or titles just scoring goals, you need to defend, but even conceding three goals (against Tottenham), just two clubs have conceded more than us so it means defensively we are doing quite well.”