Published: 21:26, 5 November 2025 | Updated: 21:26, 5 November 2025

Enzo Maresca suggested Chelsea are suffering a Club World Cup hangover after Qarabag stopped an English side from winning for the first time in their history.

The statistics say Maresca has made 85 changes in total to his starting line-ups this season and averages up to six tweaks per match – more than any other Premier League manager by comparison.

Maresca was quizzed afterwards on why he yet again made significant changes – seven in total – to his side for this Champions League visit to the Azerbaijan capital of Baku as he relied on three half-time substitutes coming on to ensure they avoided losing this long European trip.

'The intention was to rest Enzo (Fernandez), to rest Moises (Caicedo), to rest Malo (Gusto), to rest more players, because they are not able to play every three days,' Maresca said. 'They need recovery from last season.

'The Club World Cup affects a lot. We try to rotate. When you win, no one mentions all that. When we don't win, everyone is focused on...