The Blues head to Molineux on Wednesday evening looking to secure a place in the last-eight of the League Cup by defeating Vitor Pereira’s side in the West Midlands.

With a Premier League London derby with Tottenham and a Champions League trip to Qarabag on the horizon in the next week, Maresca confirmed at his pre-match press conference that rotation will be required for this game, with the likes of Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo and Joao Pedro among the names who could be rested against the Old Gold.

‘Yes, we need to rotate,’ our Italian head coach told the gathered media at Cobham.

‘We need to protect the players because if we go with the same XI, we are going to struggle during the season. We probably will make some changes against Wolves, I don’t know how many, but we will make changes.

‘I don’t know if it’s going to be nine or 10 like it was from Forest to Ajax, but for sure we need to make some to rotate and help protect the players.

‘There are players that they need to be protected for many reasons, so tomorrow we'll see. Enzo, Moi, Joao - they are all players, for different reasons, we need to protect them.’

One player who our head coach confirmed will be available for selection is Delap, with the striker having recovered from the hamstring injury that has kept him out since late August.

The forward, a summer signing from Ipswich Town, is expected to feature in the game but Maresca warned that he will need to be managed carefully after such a period out and won’t play the whole fixture.

‘Yes, Liam is available for the game,’ Maresca stated.

‘He completed the whole session with us yesterday with no problems and he is available for tomorrow.

‘We have to be careful with Liam and [it’s unlikely he will play] 90 minutes, no. He’s been out for two months, so he needs to be gradually brought back up to 100 per cent.’