Enzo Maresca has revealed why Chelsea stars Nicolas Jackson, Robert Sanchez, Levi Colwill and many others were left out of the starting XI for the game against Southampton.

The Italian made several changes to his team to face the bottom of the Premier League on Wednesday evening.

With the game coming just three days after the Blues’ 3-0 win over Aston Villa, Maresca is keen to use his squad.

However, there was a surprise goal change as Filip Jorgensen made his Premier League debut. The Dane is usually selected to represent Chelsea in the Conference League.

Given Wesley Fofana’s injury, Chelsea fans have been speculating about who could replace the French star, and Maresca has given Axel Disasi and Tosin Adarabioyo the chance to impress – a possible hint that Benoit Badiashile could team up with Colwill at the weekend.

Before the game, Maresca spoke about his team selection and revealed why he decided to drop some of his star players.

“I have said many times that we have good players and that they all deserve to play and get minutes,” he began. “Since we started we have tried to share minutes, regardless of the competition. We are convinced that this is the right path and we will continue like this.”

“To keep the momentum going we just have to try to do our best and keep going game after game.”

This comes after Maresca dismissed claims that he had an ‘A’ and a ‘B’ team at Chelsea and reiterated that places at Stamford Bridge were up for grabs.

Now it’s time for Maresca’s men to show they’re up to the task of playing Premier League football, with Christopher Nkunku being one to watch out for as there are reports he’s up to speed with his playing time so far this season is dissatisfied.

Jackson deserves his break, but Maresca may have had his eye on his striker’s disciplinary penalty as Jackson is just one yellow card away from a ban and there couldn’t be a worse time to do so before Chelsea face Spurs at the weekend. The same goes for Pedro Neto, who was also on the bench.