Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca says the summer Club World Cup is still affecting his team after a battling 2-2 draw with Qarabag.
A young Chelsea team was given a chasing after a 2,500-mile trip to the Azerbaijan capital Baku and needed a goal from substitute Alejandro Garnacho to rescue a point.
Maresca made seven changes from the team that beat Tottenham at the weekend and saw Rome Lavia go off injured after just eight minutes.
“The intention was to rest Moises (Caicedo), Enzo (Fernandez), Malo (Gusto) and more players,” he said. “They are not able to play every three days. The Club World Cup affected a lot. We tried to rotate. When we win, nobody mentions that but when we don’t, everyone is focused on that.”
The final of the summer tournament in the United States, which saw Chelsea beat Paris St Germain 3-0, was played only five weeks before the start of the new Premier League season.
“The (selection) is always because we think the plan with the players is the correct one,” said Maresca. “Today, we started the right way, scored the goal but then we conceded two, the first one when they had 10 players. We can avoid both goals. In their box, we need to be more clinical.”
There was more worry for Maresca as Lavia was forced off injured early on.
The midfielder has played only 30 times in more than two years since joining the club and has never completed a full 90 minutes.
“We feel a shame for him, especially for him,” said Maresca. “He’s not able to be fit for a long, long period. We will see now. It’s too early to understand what kind of injury. I think it’s his quad.”
The draw leaves Chelsea on eight points in the table, the same number as their hosts in Baku, but with one defeat already to their name there is little margin for error in their remaining four games if they hope to finish in the top eight and avoid a play-off in February.
Maresca’s team face Wolves at Stamford Bridge on Saturday night, less than 72 hours after returning from the eastern edge of Europe.
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