Making five changes ahead of a must-win league match away to a city rival was perceived by many as a sign of complacency from Enzo Maresca. 

We take a look at whether Maresca was right to make that many changes or not.

As earlier stated, Enzo Maresca made 5 changes from the win on Thursday against Spurs as he looked to end the team’s winless away run since the 8th of December, a 4-3 win against Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium.

Starting without key personnel like Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson saw many eyebrows raised in the fan base after the lineup was released. 

Was Maresca complacent?

It would appear rather unwise to think Maresca took the challenge against Thomas Frank’s team with a punch of salt.

Brentford this season have shown huge character when faced against the ‘big 6’, looking to play directly into the channels and on the transition.

Long balls and duels all over the pitch is Brentford’s forte and considering the Blues only just played against another a direct team in Spurs, 72-hours earlier, it was wise for Maresca to make changes and refreshen the team. 

Another key factor in Maresca’s reasoning for resting his most potent duo is for fitness sake.

Having only just returned from injury during the last international break, Maresca has had to be careful on his usage of Nicholas Jackson. 

The 23-year old Senegalese has become a key figure in Enzo Maresca’s team and his absence coincided with the ‘goal famine’ experienced by Maresca’s men in the past weeks.

Similar circumstance was the reasoning behind the decision to bench Palmer as the Englishman missed the March internationals due to injury and has looked exhausted at the end of games in recent weeks.

Did the rotation cost the Blues? 

It could be argued that the rotation weakened Chelsea and if either of Palmer or Jackson had started, the Blues would have had a bit more attacking bite in the first half. 

However, the team put out by Maresca held off one of the most potent attacking trios in the league in Mbeumo, Schade and Wissa.

Defensively, the Blues were compact off the ball and the trio of Dewsbury-Hall, Enzo Fernandez and Caicedo mopped up a lot of the loose balls in midfield as Brentford looked to stretch the blues by playing long balls over the middle-third and direct behind the defence.

Supplying the needed energy to keep up with a hardworking Brentford midfield of Nørgaard, Damsgaard and Yarmolyuk, KDH continued his good form from the midweek cameo against Tottenham Hotspur. 

Despite not causing Brentford enough danger up front, the Blues did look to create enough trouble through Madueke and overloading the flanks but met a resilient Brentford backline. 

Tale of 2 halves :

The first half saw the Blues barely create any chance as Christopher Nkunku had another shocker playing as a number 9. 

Replacing Palmer in midfield, KDH contributed his quota defensively but couldn’t pose the sort of threat Palmer would have posed. 

A stale first half was quickly forgotten after the introduction of Nicholas Jackson for Christopher Nkunku who had a shocker up front.

Jackson’s high intensity runs and movement kept the Brentford defenders on their toes and his ability to bring others in to play livened up the game.

The introduction of Palmer for KDH on the 60th mark further upped the tempo of the Chelsea attack as Maresca sought a win against Thomas Frank’s men. 

As seen in the xG performance of the Blues in both halves(0.49 in the first half and 0.83) in the second half, the threat posed in the second half was a contrast to what the Blues managed in the first half. 

It’s the final lap to this season’s marathon and as Enzo Maresca has previously mentioned, the team needs everyone fit and firing. 

The Blues cannot afford another injury to either of Palmer or Jackson as the race for champions league football heats up.