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• BBC
• Wed Nov 5 2025

Are Chelsea rotating too much?

The Blues have made multiple line-up changes in all their recent matches and have tweaked the starting XI more than any other Premier League side this season.

But, after they narrowly avoided an embarrassing defeat at Champions League minnows Qarabag, there were those questioning whether they might be overdoing the changes.

On Wednesday, substitute Alejandro Garnacho saved Chelsea by equalising early in the second half, in a chaotic, open 2-2 draw at the Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium in Baku.

Estevao Willian had opened the scoring but mistakes from defender Jorrel Hato saw Leandro Andrade and Marko Jankovic put Qarabag ahead - a shock lead given they are a team worth just ?22m, which is less than ?1m per squad player.

The Blues, with a squad worth well over ?1bn, were particularly poor in the first half, especially compared to the dominant 1-0 win away at Tottenham on Saturday. However, this was a very different starting 11.

Just goalkeeper Robert Sanchez, full-backs Reece James and Marc Cucurella, and forward Joao Pedro started in North London.

It was the fifth-consecutive match across all competitions where manager Enzo Maresca has made at least seven changes to his starting 11. No Premier League club has made more than Chelsea's 85 changes in 16 matches across all competitions this season.

The constant changing has left Maresca open to criticisms of being too much of a 'tinkerman', an unwanted nickname once given to his compatriot Claudio Ranieri at Chelsea.

Defending his approach, Maresca said: "When we make changes it is because we think the plan with the players that start is the correct one.

"I think today, we start in the right way, we score the goal and then, again, we concede two goals that we can avoid. [Also] in their box, for the amount of times that we are there, probably we can be more clinical.

"I think in the second half we were much better compared to the first, but again, every game is a chance for all of them to show the reason why they are here."