‘Exciting’ Chelsea player has the perfect chance to start his first game of the season on Thursday

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Enzo Maresca will again have the chance to rotate his Chelsea side heavily when the Blues return to Conference League action on Thursday night against Heidenheim.

Chelsea were back to winning ways in their first game after the international break with a 2-1 win over Leicester City, off the back of a superb performance by Enzo Fernandez.

The World Cup winner dropped into the Conference League starting side temporarily, however three assists in 45 minutes proved his quality immediately.

There is actually a lot of uncertainty over who will start in the middle of the park in Germany on Thursday. Traditionally, Maresca has rotated his midfield pairing, which at the weekend was Fernandez and Moises Caicedo.

Romeo Lavia however has not been named in the squad for the group stages of the competition, and therefore an opportunity may arise for someone else to stake their claim.

Carney Chukwuemeka deserves a start vs Heidenheim

Chelsea fans have called for Carney Chukwuemeka to be handed minutes far more often than he has during this season. He is yet to start a game for the Blues under Maresca.

Now looks the best opportunity yet for Chukwuemeka to stake his claim, and he should be named in the midfield for the match against Heidenheim.

He could partner Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who himself is looking for more minutes after joining the Blues over the summer.

After a summer where it looked as if Chukwuemeka could have been on the move, a deal was not finalised with any club for either a transfer on loan.

Enzo Maresca’s promise to Chukwuemeka

After this, Maresca stated he was now looking forward to using the young midfielder in his plans, despite admitting it was tough based on the amount of quality players he had at his disposal.

He said: “I really, really like Carney. But we have so many attacking midfielders. Unfortunately, we didn’t find any solutions [in the summer]. Now we can use him.”

Up to now though, this has simply not occured, and the former Aston Villa man has a case to be frustrated with the boss.

A player owner Todd Boehly described as ‘exciting’ when he joined the club, there would be a string of sides queuing up to sign Chukwuemeka if he does not make it at Stamford Bridge.