Why three Chelsea players are at risk of one-match Club World Cup ban | OneFootball

Enzo Maresca will be wary of his Chelsea players who are at risk of missing the final group game of their Club World Cup campaign.

Chelsea are preparing for their second game in Group D after beating LAFC 2-0 in their opener at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Monday.

They now face Flamengo in Philadelphia and Maresca is likely to rotate to keep his Chelsea squad fresh and reduce the risk of any potential injuries.

However, Chelsea are also in danger of losing three players for matchday three in Group D against ES Tunis.

Reece James, Tosin Adarabioyo and Marc Cucurella all picked up yellow cards against LAFC and they are now one booking away from a one-match suspension.

IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

Cautions aren't removed until after the quarter-final stage, so Chelsea's players are walking a tightrope should they collect a yellow card between now and then.

Maresca's team selection against Flamengo will become apparent soon, but the Chelsea head coach has already been open about his plans for each Club World Cup game.

"No injuries at the moment," confirmed Maresca on Thursday, "but because it’s a tournament and we have a game every three days, we need to rotate players.

IMAGO / Xinhua

"I’m not saying we’re going to rotate ten or eleven players each game, but we will need to rotate three, four or five players each game for sure. This is because we cannot play every three days with the same players.

"The ones we tried to rotate a little bit in the first game are the ones we have tried to rotate since day one: Romeo (Lavia) and Reece. We also gave some minutes off to Moi, who has played the whole season, by bringing on Dario Essugo. We will try to continue on that."