Both Chelsea and Arsenal will be able to name 12 substitutes on their respective benches in the Europa League final in Baku, following a new ruling introduced by UEFA at the start of the season.
Maurizio Sarri may be forced into naming a number of Chelsea’s younger players on the bench to face Arsenal, with trio Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Antonio Rudiger and Callum Hudson-Odoi all ruled out of the trip to Baku.
N’Golo Kante also faces a race to be fit after suffering recently with a hamstring problem.
The new ruling was implemented in the UEFA Super Cup at the start of the season and will also apply to the Champions League final between Liverpool and Tottenham, The Times report.
UEFA introduced the new change for the respective final’s of the Super Cup, Champions League and Europa League in order to give manager’s more options on the bench, increasing the number of players available from seven to 12.
