Chelsea withdraw two players from Conference League squad to face Heidenheim | Football

Chelsea will not risk Malo Gusto and Pedro Neto in European action on Thursday, but both are expected to return against Aston Villa this weekend.

Gusto and Neto did not travel with the team for their Conference League clash against Bundesliga leaders Heidenheim.

French defender Gusto missed Saturday’s 2-1 win at Leicester due to illness, while Portuguese winger Neto was injured during the recent international break.

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca expects both to return against Aston Villa.

“They both trained with us. We are not taking any chances for (Thursday’s) game, but I think both should be available for Sunday’s game.

Maresca says he will continue his policy of fielding his star forwards for European games, bringing a number of academy products such as Kiano Dyer, Samuel Rak-Sakyi and Tyrique George to Germany.

“It is an important competition, a European competition. Since we started we have tried to share the minutes with all the players in the team,” he said.

“In some (Conference League) games we also used young players. So we’ll see. Right now it’s like this, and I hope we can continue like this.

Chelsea won all three of their Conference League games after eliminating Gent, Panathinaikos and Noah, scoring 16 goals in the process, but Maresca insists on not being complacent.

“I like every game in this competition, knowing that every club is trying to make their big game,” said Maresca.

“Maybe the problem for us is that if we are not mentally prepared and we don’t underestimate a team, they can hurt us. So we have to be ready.