Many Chelsea fans urge Enzo Maresca to keep ‘excellent’ Chelsea player in the starting XI vs Newcastle

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It’s going to be very interesting to see what kind of Chelsea starting line-up is selected on Wednesday night away at Newcastle United.

The Blues travel to St James’ Park this evening to face Newcastle in the Carabao Cup, with the winners progressing into the quarter-finals of the domestic competition.

In previous cup games this season, Enzo Maresca has heavily rotated his team to keep most of the group involved. Will the Chelsea manager still be prepared to do that against Premier League opposition, though?

A fascinating subplot for the midweek cup showdown is that Chelsea beat Newcastle 2-1 at Stamford Bridge on Sunday in their Premier League clash.

• READ MORE: Newcastle manager Eddie Howe is impressed by one thing Enzo Maresca has ‘already’ done at Chelsea

Chelsea fans tell Enzo Maresca not to drop Cole Palmer vs Newcastle

A selection of Chelsea supporters on social media are insisting that Cole Palmer maintains his spot in the starting line-up for the upcoming League Cup tie.

Yet again, the 22-year-old attacker dazzled at the weekend for the Blues. He scored the winner versus Newcastle, which takes his tally up to seven goals and five assists in nine league appearances this season.

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe claims Palmer has been “excellent” at Chelsea, but will his side have to contend with him tonight?

Here are many Chelsea fans on X begging Maresca to start Palmer on Wednesday evening:

@Vetlecool wrote: “Palmer has to start.”

@realist_cfc posted: “I’m pretty sure he’ll start Felix too, though I’d rather see Palmer given it’s a knockout game.”

@RealtorIyke claimed: “I think he’ll (Palmer) play. Because Newcastle will mean business. So will Enzo.”

@Chelsinho0 said: “I’d rather start Palmer, although at the expense of who I don’t really know.”

Is Cole Palmer being overused by Chelsea?

Maresca has been quite open with how he’s managing Palmer this season. So far, it’s been to put the England star on ice in cup competitions to keep him fresh for the league.

The attacking playmaker has played in 11 out of Chelsea’s opening 14 matches across all competitions this campaign.

Here is a look at the players in the Chelsea squad with the most minutes to date this campaign, as per Transfermarkt:

We’d say Maresca is doing a fine job with Palmer’s minutes right now. In particular, the decision to omit him from the squad for the Conference League group stage phase has been justified.

Our guess is that Palmer will be named on the bench for the cup tie against Newcastle and be kept on the sidelines in case of an emergency.