Explained: Why Cole Palmer & Nicolas Jackson were dropped by Chelsea for Premier League derby date with west London neighbours Brentford

The pair were absent from Maresca's side to start the west London derby, with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Christopher Nkunku coming into the team, despite having both started Thursday's 1-0 victory over Tottenham.

Maresca explained that his selection has been guided by a specific tactical approach to the game, as well as the need to rotate his squad less than 72 hours after the Spurs victory. He said: "It's just the game plan. The ones that are going to start I think are going to be the right ones. Also because we have players back from injury. So two games in 48 to 72 hours is not the best thing to do after a long time [out] and we try to manage it a little bit."

Palmer has not scored in any of his last 11 matches, last netting against Bournemouth in January. Jackson is also nine games without a goal and missed two months with injury between February and his return on Thursday.

After the Brentford match, Chelsea are next in action against Legia Warsaw in the Conference League quarter-final first leg on Thursday. They then host Ipswich next Sunday.