Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca defends fringe players after struggles during EFL Cup quarter-final win at Cardiff City

Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has defended the lack of impact from some of his fringe players against Cardiff City on Tuesday night.

After a relentless schedule since November 22, it came as no surprise when Maresca made 11 changes for the EFL Cup quarter-final in South Wales.

Goals from Alejandro Garnacho (two) and Pedro Neto - both of whom came off the substitutes' bench - secured a 3-1 victory for Chelsea over the League One leaders.

However, the perception will be that several of Chelsea's squad members failed to take their opportunity with the likes of Tyrique George and Marc Guiu being withdrawn at half time.

Facundo Buonanotte was also off the pace during the first half before a much-improved second half led to him providing the assist for Chelsea's first goal prior to being substituted.

Maresca 'expected some difficulty" with new-look team

Speaking at a press conference after the game, Maresca refused to be critical of his team initially struggling to break down a Cardiff team that play a similar style of football.

He told reporters: "Cardiff is very well organised, off the ball they were very intense, and we expect exactly the game that we face, knowing that Ty [George] is not playing a lot, [Marc] Guiu is not playing a lot, Facu [Buonanotte] is not playing a lot.

"So we expect some difficulty in the first half, and then in the second half, with the change, we were quite better."

The Italian added: "They are not playing a lot. It's not easy, they need physical condition, they need minutes to be there.

"And again, I think in the first half, we were very good off the ball, we struggled to create chances, but we expect that, because we had three or four players inside the pitch that didn't play a lot, and in the second half, as I said, we were better."

The perfect night for Chelsea

As well as reaching the semi-finals of the EFL Cup, Chelsea were able to do so without Maresca using the likes of Wesley Fofana, Reece James and Enzo Fernandez off the substitutes' bench.

In the absence of the suspended Marc Cucurella, Jorrel Hato also got a much-needed 90 minutes under his belt having not featured since November 5.

Second-choice goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen looked more assured than in previous rounds, while positives can still be taken from Guiu getting 45 minutes under his belt for just the second time since October 26.

Despite the injury blow concerning Estevao Willian, Chelsea can now look ahead of Premier League fixtures against Newcastle United and Aston Villa with several key players well-rested and others more up to speed than they were.