Chelsea visit Brighton on Saturday night for a cup tie at the Amex Stadium, and Enzo Maresca should look to give one rising star from the academy his senior debut.
The Blues play away at Brighton tonight in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Chelsea’s injury list versus Brighton includes Marc Guiu after the striker picked up a fresh problem in Monday night’s Premier League victory over West Ham.
It’ll be interesting to see how many changes Enzo Maresca makes to his starting line-up for the weekend cup tie. Regardless of the team, fans will be hoping for a win, especially because they were dumped out of the League Cup this season in the fourth round.
Enzo Maresca should hand out Chelsea debut vs Brighton
The Chelsea squad does look a bit thin in a couple of areas, which is why Maresca needs to start looking at his Under-21s for some help. In particular, the Blues need cover for Marc Cucurella because he’s the only out-and-out left-back in the group.
Blues prospect Ishe Samuels-Smith, 18, could be the perfect solution to the problem.
When Chelsea face Brighton this evening, we’d love to see Samuels-Smith thrown straight in for his first-team debut. It would give Cucurella a well deserved night off, plus be a reward for a very exciting youngster.
The teenage left-back has been a star of the Blues U21s side this campaign, so it feels like a matter of time before he makes a breakthrough.
Samuels-Smith has trained with Chelsea’s main group under Maresca. Hopefully, the head coach feels like he’s ready to make his senior debut.
Chelsea drop hint Ishe Samuels-Smith could be involved in FA Cup
We’ll have to wait and see if Samuels-Smith makes Chelsea’s matchday squad against Brighton later, but there’s perhaps been a big hint that he’ll be involved.
Chelsea’s U21s side recorded a 1-1 draw against Leeds United on Friday night in the Premier League 2.
However, Samuels-Smith was one notable omission from yesterday’s squad.
Chelsea need more full-back cover after loaning out Renato Veiga to Juventus in the January transfer window. Samuels-Smith could be an ideal replacement for Veiga in the second half of the season.
