Enzo Maresca on leaving Cole Palmer out of squad, Nkunku and Mudryk game time and Chilwell | OneFootball

Enzo Maresca has backed his decision to leave Cole Palmer out of the Chelsea squad for the Conference League group stages.

The Blues take on Gent at Stamford Bridge on Thursday but will be without their star man following his four goals in the win over Brighton on Saturday after opting not to register him as part of the Conference League squad.

But Maresca insists it was the right call to give him rest despite his importance to his Chelsea team.

“We played some games without Cole, but for sure for us and any team in the world, Cole is something extra that you need,” he said.

“We also need to think a bit to protect some players, they need that. We decide to protect Cole or Fofana or Lavia because there is a reason behind it and I think Cole needs to be protected a little bit.”

The clash with Gent could provide a chance for Mykhailo Mudryk to start, having been left out of the starting 11 in recent games following the arrival of Jadon Sancho.

Maresca said: “We’ve given him already some games. The other day he was from the bench.

“I said many times, they all want to play from the start but sometimes it’s not possible and you have to take some decisions.

“Misha, last week against Barrow, I think he did very well.

“It’s never easy to come (from the bench) but the minutes he was on I think he was okay (against Brighton).

“Hopefully he can do a good game tomorrow but it’s not just about Misha, we can say exactly the same about Christopher Nkunku. The club signed him as a big player but in this moment he’s not playing in the Premier League but as I said, in football things change quickly so for Christopher, for Misha, for all the players that in this moment are not starting in the Premier League, it doesn’t mean that they are not going to start the next game.

“Right now the situation is this but it doesn’t mean that for all the season, it will be the same.

“The only thing we ask them is that the moment we give them a chance – five minutes, ten minutes or half an hour, they give everything and that is enough.”

Maresca also defended his decision to leave Ben Chilwell out of the Conference League squad despite injuries in the full-back positions, including to Reece James. “No, I don’t think so,” he said when asked if he has any regrets about the decision.

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