Denis Zakaria has been handed his debut for Chelsea in Wednesday's Champions League fixture against Dinamo Zagreb.

The Juventus loanee has not featured for a single minute since his arrival in September, leading to constant questions for Graham Potter about the midfielder's prolonged absence.

However, the Switzerland international lines up for the Blues for their meeting with Zagreb, despite Potter naming a surprisingly-strong first XI.

While Potter has heavily rotated his side from the 4-1 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion, he has declined to hand rare starts to Hakim Ziyech or Armando Broja.

Instead, Raheem Sterling, Kai Havertz and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang all line up in the front three, while there is also a start for Mason Mount.

As expected, Edouard Mendy returns to replace injured goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, with Kalidou Koulibaly returning from a knee issue to feature in a back four.

Despite having the opportunity to include a number of young players on the substitutes' bench, Potter has only selected eight players, four short of the allotted 12.

Chelsea: Mendy; Azpilicueta, Chalobah, Koulibaly, Chilwell; Jorginho, Zakaria, Mount; Havertz, Aubameyang, Sterling

Subs: Bettinelli, Thiago Silva, Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek, Broja, Ziyech, Gallagher, Cucurella

Dinamo Zagreb: Livakovic; Ristovski, Sutalo, Peric, Moharrami, Ademi, Misic, Ivanusec, Ljubicic, Orsic, Petkovic

Subs: Nevistic, Stefulj, Lauritsen, Baturina, Emreli, Bockaj, Drmic, Marin, Theophile-Catherine, Bulat, Menalo, Spikic

Written by
Darren Plant