Recent trips to north London have proved memorable for Chelsea supporters. A madcap visit during the 2023/24 campaign saw Tottenham reduced to nine men and four goals struck by the Blues in a resounding victory.

Meanwhile, Maresca's side roared back from two goals down last season to claim a 4-3 victory. Cole Palmer struck twice in the triumph, one of which was a Panenka penalty.

Palmer will be absent this time around as he continues to recover from a groin issue. Levi Colwill, Benoit Badiashile and Dario Essugo are also sidelined due to injury. Liam Delap is suspended after being sent off against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Carabao Cup.

Joao Pedro didn't feature at Molineux as he continues to be managed by the Blues coaching staff. Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo were, meanwhile, second-half substitutes.

Yet Maresca has confirmed the trio are ready to feature in north London if called upon. 'They are okay, they are available,' he said.

'The reason why Joao didn’t play against Wolves is that we tried to protect him. It was the same thing with Moi and with Enzo; just giving them some minutes [rather than them starting]. But the idea is to protect these players.

'Game by game, we can’t plan with them because of their problems, their situations. So, it's about taking it game-by-game and seeing how many minutes we can use them.

'We try to use the whole squad because, at this moment, we need the whole squad.'

Palmer has been absent since September and isn't expected to return to action imminently, as Maresca reiterated during his pre-match press conference at Cobham this morning.

He said: ‘With Cole, it’s the plan is exactly the same. We will wait and hopefully he can be back soon.’