Maresca sends message over centre back ranking – and £30m man can’t make the bench

Chelsea’s team for this afternoon’s game against Brighton is out, and it’s much as expected.

Malo Gusto comes into the team and plays at right back, meaning Wesley Fofana is switched back from the right to the centre, and Tosin Adarabioyo drops out of the side, despite a good showing against West Ham last week. We were always confident that this would be Enzo Maresca’s decision given it was how he started the season when all were fit, but this just confirms that Fofana does indeed remain above Tosin in the pecking order at the back.

In midfield, it’s worrying times for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who can’t even get on the bench now. The return of Romeo Lavia from injury, combined with Renato Veiga’s ability to play in midfield if needed, means the former Leicester man continues to look increasingly like a £30m transfer market mistake given we already had players like Cesare Casadei and Carney Chukwuemeka able to play in similar positions. That’s not even considering Lesley Ugochukwu and Andrey Santos, who were sent on loan.

Full squad puts Chelsea in strong position to push on

Overall though, isn’t it just nice to have a fit squad? It means you can play a full eleven of players in form, with plenty of quality on the bench to mix things up if they don’t go well. The sheer firepower of Pedro Neto, Christopher Nkunku and Joao Felix on the bench is impressive – they would all have been starting for us for most of last season.

The last few years have made us accustomed to being a little threadbare, so it’s a great feeling to be back to full strength, with only Reece James now out. The longer we can keep things like this, the more confident we’ll be about keeping up our strong start to the season.