Enzo Maresca has reason to have been smiling through Arsenal’s defeat to Inter Milan on Wednesday night. The Italian watched as Mikel Arteta made just one change from the loss to Newcastle last weekend.
While the Blues have a game on Thursday evening against Noah in the UEFA Europa Conference League, it is expected Chelsea will rotate heavily and be able to rest key players like Cole Palmer, who is not in the squad, before the weekend clash.
Arsenal were beaten by a sole penalty kick given away by Mikel Merino. Yet, it was threads throughout the game that sent a message to Chelsea and delivered encouragement rather than fear.
While it was a better performance compared to Newcastle, key issues were sustained, and 46 crosses sent into the box failed to lead to one big chance being created. Kai Havertz’s strike blocked by Yann Bisseck came from a fortuitous deflection, the German’s curling effort was a speculative effort and Denzel Dumfries cleared off the line from what appeared to be a Inter Milan head from Bukayo Saka’s corner.
The lack of rotation means that there will be some tired legs going into the weekend. It is a must-win for Arsenal but Chelsea have reason to be emboldened by what they have seen here.
