Chelsea are set to begin their League Cup campaign with a game against Lincoln City. It is a historic evening in many ways, as this is the first time that the Blues will be playing the opposition away since 1911. It has been quite a while to say the least, and hopefully, Enzo Maresca's side will mark the occasion with a win.
One of the headaches for Chelsea going into the competition has been the striker situation. Joao Pedro is believed to be dealing with fitness issues, but has had to start in all three of the previous games in the absence of Liam Delap.
One would imagine that this would have been the perfect spot for Pedro to be given some rest. But coming into the game against Lincoln City, it was believed that Marc Guiu was not eligible to play.
Now, it has emerged that that is not the case after all. As reported by the BBC, Guiu is eligible to play in the third round of the League Cup for Chelsea against Lincoln City owing to a change in the rules for this season's competition.
Chelsea handed unexpected boost due to League Cup rule change
As it turns out, Chelsea were unaware of this. This was confirmed to them by the EFL merely hours before kick-off. As a result, despite the rule change, which states that a player can represent two clubs in the League Cup in the same season, Guiu is not expected to feature against Lincoln City.
Maresca would not have had him in his game plans going into the game against Lincoln City. But he will be considered for selection in the future, if Chelsea are able to make it past the League One side this evening.
Guiu was brought back after his loan spell at Sunderland was cut short, in order to activate Nicolas Jackson's move to Bayern Munich. But so far, he seems to be completely out of Maresca's plans, with the Italian preferring to play Tyrique George up front instead of the Spaniard, if the situation calls for it.