Chelsea trio dealt brutal snub as ruthless Enzo Maresca goes back on his promise

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca continues to show he is not afraid to dish out some hard truths to his players after snubbing three stars against Newcastle.

The Italian boss made 10 changes from the team that beat Panathinaikos 4-1 on Thursday as he rotated back to what is fast becoming his favoured Premier League XI.

Despite a clinical performance in Greece, Maresca showed no room for sentiment as only Pedro Neto kept his place from the UEFA Conference League game.

That signalled more frustration and disappointment for the likes of Mykhaylo Mudryk, Joao Felix and Christopher Nkunku, who all scored in Athens and might have expected to be in with a chance of starting against Newcastle.

It wasn’t unrealistic to expect them to start, either. Maresca had indicated his ‘second string’ in Europe were doing exactly what he wanted from them by giving him a selection headache for league matches.

“What we want is exactly what they are doing; taking the chance when we give them the chance. Now, tonight, once again they show that,” Maresca said on Thursday after watching his side beat Panathinaikos.

“If we want to be there and want to compete, we need all the players doing the right things. They are doing that and that is important for us.

“For sure, Sunday now we are going to make changes because we have more players. But the important thing is they perform in the right way and the identity of the team continues to be the same.”

It still wasn’t enough. Mudryk scored one and assisted another, Felix grabbed a brace for himself and Nkunku netted from the spot. Even Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who has struggled to lock down a regular spot since his £30million switch from Leicester, played himself into contention.

But Mudryk, who was left out of the squad against Liverpool, made the bench this time – was only named amongst the substitutes after his finest performance in a Chelsea shirt. He came off the bench against Newcastle, but Felix was an unused substitute.

Nkunku didn’t have his best game for the Blues but got his name on the scoresheet, while Dewsbury-Hall was left out of the squad altogether after enjoying a decent performance. It may lead the players to question what exactly it is they have to do to dislodge some of Chelsea’s starters.

The uncomfortable truth for Maresca is that his side failed to beat 10-man Nottingham Forest before a narrow defeat to Liverpool the following week. Even against Newcastle, it was far from convincing and at some point, he may need to consider switching things around.

If he doesn’t, the 44-year-old could start to lose that competitive edge which has transformed Chelsea back into a team that is feared again.

The last thing he wants is to alienate his squad players heading into the most critical period of the season, but ignoring them after another big win could lead to some unhappy faces in the dressing room.