Chelsea have secured home wins over Benfica and Ajax after their opening defeat to Bayern Munich on match day one. Maresca’s team are clear favourites to pick up three points ahead of the game, where they face a side who have suffered seven consecutive losses to clubs from England in European games.
Do Qarabag pose a threat?
Maresca first spoke on Qarabag and the threat they could pose on Wednesday night, despite the major gap in quality.
“They are a good team. They beat Benfica and Copenhagen. They were beating Bilbao and lost in the end. It will be a tough game for sure for different reasons.
“As a team they are a very good team and a very intense team. The way they press, and they have worked with the same manager for many, many years. They are more intense at home. It will be a tough game.
"Qarabag have won two games like us. They are a very good team and are organised. It's going to be a tough game."
Neto is fine
Pedro Neto missed training on Tuesday, leading to reports that suggested the Portuguese international was possibly injured. Maresca cleared up those claims.
“Not a problem, just a small issue. We will try to protect him. He is not involved in tomorrow's game.”
Chelsea will rotate
The Italian head coach was next asked if he will rotate his side heading into the clash which comes before Saturday’s game with Wolves who may have a new manager bounce.
“It's an important game because it can give us three wins in a row in the Champions League. For sure, we need to rotate some of the players because I think we come back in London at 6am on Friday and then we have a game on Saturday.
"We will try to adapt and do our best.”
Delap returns
Summer signing Liam Delap recently returned from injury and picked up a red card against Wolves in the EFL Cup. However, he will be available for the clash against Qarabag which Maresca is delighted with.
"Liam is back. He is an important player for us. He is an option for tomorrow. I don't have any doubt at the end of the season that we will be very happy with Liam in terms of goals and the way he works off the ball. No doubt he is going to help us."
Palmer will be back "very soon"
Finally, Maresca spoke on another player who is slowly returning in Cole Palmer, who the club predict will be back in a few weeks time.
"We hope so but with Cole, we try to schedule the beginning, and then we need to review that. We go day by day with Cole. He is not taking any sessions with the team. We have Benoit Badiashile that can probably be available after the international break and for us, that is huge news.
"I would love to have Cole here tomorrow and for every game. Unfortunately he's injured but for sure, we want him back very soon."