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Hungarian national champions Videoton ... err MOL Vidi FC (which is a name I personally can’t quite reconcile just yet) come to town on Thursday for Chelsea’s second ever match in the Europa League group stages, and the first ever at Stamford Bridge. History!
While no team should ever be taken too lightly, Videoton Vidi are the lowest ranked team of the group by some distance — they had the 5th lowest UEFA coefficient of all group stage qualifiers — and should thus provide a nice opportunity to rotate the squad after the physical and mental exertions of the past couple weeks, including the back-to-back tests against Liverpool.
This being the Europa League, Danny Drinkwater, Lucas Piazon, and Rob Green are ineligible. We can also safely assume that Pedro’s shoulder isn’t going to be tested in this one, regardless of how close he may be to returning. Other than a slight concern about Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s fitness status, everyone else should be available.
Sarri rotated 8 players for the League Cup tie (guessing that Liverpool would do something similar) and rotated about 5 players for the first Europa League group match (which was probably our toughest of the group, away to PAOK). How much should he rotate for this one?