Chelsea’s much-maligned huge playing squad means Barrow will get the chance to test themselves against a team of stars tonight.
It might not be the side which beat West Ham on Saturday 3-0 but will be packed with talent, described by the manager as fringe players.
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca knows that for the Barrow players it will be the biggest game that most of them will ever play, so expects them to be leaving everything out there on the Stamford Bridge pitch.
Maresca will be going for it, but at yesterday’s press conference he said that there will be chances for some fringe players. He has also updated on the fitness and readiness for both Romeo Lavia and Malo Gusto.
Maresca says: “It would be a chance to give them [fringe players] some minutes. It’s the same way we have done in the Conference League. Hopefully it can be a good chance for them to show a little bit of themselves.”
Asked about Lavia and Gusto, he said: “Malo is available. Romeo is not. Hopefully he can be available for Brighton.”
However Maresca is taking this game and this competition very seriously, so it will be a surprise if there are too many academy additions tomorrow:
He said: “It’s dangerous because football is full of these [supposed] ‘easy’ games. In this moment, it’s the worst game for us. We need to take it seriously. We can’t allow ourselves to drop.”
He gave a strong hint too that Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall is going to start the game.
Maresca dais: “Probably [he will start]. We have a session today. I like to tell the players before the media. I’m very happy with him. We need to understand Kiernan was the main player at Leicester, he’s not here. For any player, you need to adapt.”
And on some of the fringe players who might be in, there was a specific answer.
He said: “They [the likes of Chilwell, Chukwuemeka, George and Acheampong] are going to be the ones who will be in the squad. Some we will see if they start, but if not they will all be on the bench and hopefully we can give them some [minutes].”
Barrow could receive £450,000 via gate receipts from their trip to Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea’s 41,663 seater stadium is pretty much sold out and with 45 per cent of gate receipts allocated to the away team, Cumbria Crack estimates up to a cool £450,000 gross could be heading Barrow’s way.
This is based on Chelsea reporting main areas of the ground, ie season ticket sales and general ticket sales are completely sold out, with just a few tickets available at the club’s pricey westview stand in its hospitality zone. Meanwhile, Barrow fans have snapped up 2,500 of their 3,000 away ticket allocation.
With tickets for this game priced at £27 plus the usual concessions, this means Barrow could receive their 45 per cent share of up to £1 million in gate revenue.
If Barrow go on to beat Chelsea they will receive a further £10,000 in prize money and if they won the competition they would receive £100,000.
