Chelsea’s good form in the cup competitions came to an end as they exited the Carabao Cup at the hands of Newcastle United.
The Blues were beaten 2-0 after Enzo Maresca made 11 changes to the side who had beaten the same side just four days ago.
This saw the likes of Cole Palmer drop to the bench, with players such as Joao Felix and Christopher Nkunku looking to prove their point to the manager.
They were unable to have this impact though, perhaps proving as to why Maresca has been so keen to stick with the likes of Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke for his Premier League games.
Chelsea are without a major trophy since winning the Club World Cup back in early 2022. Mauricio Pochettino’s side lost in the final of this competition last season.
Chelsea may be happier to be out of Carabao Cup due to fixture pile-up
While they won’t have the chance to do this again this time around, there may actually be some positives surrounding their exit this season.
The Blues are 100% in the Conference League this season, and will no doubt be keen to add that European honour to their trophy cabinet.
If they had gone through this game, they may have had to play a youth side for one of those games, with them potentially having to play them in consecutive days.
Simon Stone told BBC Sport: “Football League officials have already had to make adjustments to this season’s Carabao Cup because of the expansion of European competitions by effectively seeding all the clubs involved in the Champions League and Europa League for the third round so they could not be paired against each other.
“And then Manchester City were forced to play two games in three days because of a clash with Manchester United’s Europa League game with FC Twente.
“They also know the dates for the quarter-finals clash with the “exclusive week” for the Uefa Conference League.
“Chelsea play Irish side Shamrock Rovers at Stamford Bridge on 19 December and have Premier League games against Brentford and Everton on 15 and 22 December respectively.”
Maresca will no doubt revert to a far more recognisable Premier League outfit for their next domestic match against Manchester United on Sunday.
The trip to Old Trafford just got a lot harder after the news that they had sacked Erik ten Hag, with Ruben Amorim expected to take over the reins.