Chelseavs.Legia

The Blues lead 3-0 following their dominant performance in the Polish capital last week, so that gives Maresca the opportunity to change the vast majority of his starting XI, something that was very common during the league phase.

With the tie as good as over, Maresca could be tempted to revert to an XI that looks similar to the one that faced Astana during the league phase, when they took a skeleton squad out to the far end of Kazakhstan in December.

One thing that is certain is that Maresca will be keeping the likes of Cole Palmer, Moises Caicedo, Nicolas Jackson and Enzo Fernandez fresh for the trip to Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday, which will be crucial to their top-five hopes.

First-leg scorer Tyrique George and Josh Acheampong are in line to start again in this one, while January acquisition Mathis Amougou, and youth graduates Shumaira Mheuka and Samuel Rak-Sakyi are also in contention to feature.

Among the first-team squad members who could start, Reece James might be the most experienced member of the XI after being an unused sub at the weekend, while Benoit Badiashile, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Christopher Nkunku should also come in.

Filip Jorgensen and Robert Sanchez have traded the number one jersey between each other this season, but the Dane has been demoted to cup goalkeeper again in recent weeks, and after starting the first leg, he is in line to feature again here, before the Spaniard retakes his place against Fulham.

On the injury list, Wesley Fofana will miss the rest of the season after undergoing hamstring surgery, but Romeo Lavia and Marc Guiu are not too far away from returning to the squad.

Chelsea possible starting lineup:

Jorgensen; Acheampong, Tosin, Badiashile, Rak-Sakyi; James, Dewsbury-Hall, Amougou; George, Nkunku, Mheuka

Written by

Andrew Delaney