If there was one position in Chelsea’s first team that was up for grabs in Premier League games, it was on the left wing. Enzo Maresca likes Pedro Neto on the right over Estevao Willian. He likes Cole Palmer at No 10 for obvious reasons. But the left? That is there for the taking.
Jamie Gittens started against Cardiff so he had his opportunity to impress, but not for the first time, the £52million summer signing from Borussia Dortmund struggled to take it.
There is plenty of promise to Gittens. We have seen what he can do for England’s Under 21s in particular. But the sight of him flailing against a League One side was unfortunate and will have done little to force Maresca into thinking he deserves more cracks in the Premier League.
Instead, Alejandro Garnacho was brought on at half-time and scored twice to show why he wants that position for himself, while another substitute in Neto came on to get a goal, too.
Gittens was not the only fringe player who disappointed, however, especially in the first half.
There were plenty of Chelsea players not on the same wavelength, like when Facundo Buonanotte dummied a pass thinking Marc Guiu would meet it behind him.
It did not work as Cardiff picked up possession instead. Buonanotte and Guiu had only spent 45 minutes on the same pitch together this season before this game, and you could tell, with Maresca making 11 changes to his side from their 2-0 win over Everton.
There were too many Chelsea B teamers not showing why they should be troubling the A team. The Blues’ one and only shot on target before the break came when Moises Caicedo showed his class, with a neat turn in midfield before he set up Guiu.
With Maresca swapping out his entire side, he has now made 134 changes to his starting line-ups in 25 matches this season, at an average of 5.36 per game. Chelsea may have depth, but Maresca relied on his bench bailing him out here.
Maresca finally makes himself clear
Amid all the noise of the last four days, Maresca has tried his best to make sure the fans know he is not disappointed in them, both in his words as well as his actions.
Chelsea’s head coach does not always approach the away end after games but he did after this victory, blowing them kisses and patting his heart. The fans responded by singing his name which, again, we do not usually hear.
Maresca said afterwards: ‘Anything I do is just because I want the best for this club, for the fans, for everyone.’ When asked if he feels appreciated, he added: ‘Tonight I think the focus has to be on us reaching the semi-finals. The support from the fans since day one has always been there.’
Chelsea’s bad card habit strikes again
Chelsea and silly yellow cards have gone hand in hand for a while now, perhaps as a consequence of how youthful their squad is.
Caicedo captained the team against Cardiff because he was supposed to be one of the more sensible stars lining up under Maresca but he got up to no good himself.
Having already received a yellow card earlier in this competition for complaining to the referee against Wolves, he sarcastically applauded the ref here to earn another caution. Those two bookings will see him suspended for the first leg of the semi-finals.
A good night for Buonanotte
Buonanotte exists! This was not his greatest game but then, the Brighton loanee had not played since early November, nor started since late October.
He may have been fortunate to avoid being hooked at half-time, but he finally did something good after the break when he set up Garnacho, who failed to score on that occasion.
Then, Buonanotte intercepted Cardiff’s attempt at playing from the back. He set up Garnacho again and this time, the Argentinian scored for 1-0.
Buonanotte then came close to curling one in himself from 25 yards.
What started awfully ended much better, but we will need to wait to see when he gets his next opportunity.
