Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has admitted his side’s defensive crisis has left him with no choice but to call on his limited centre-back options for the Carabao Cup clash against Lincoln City.

With Levi Colwill ruled out for most of the season after suffering an ACL injury and Benoît Badiashile still unavailable, the Blues are running dangerously low on fit defenders.

“I would love to rest both of them because they deserve to rest,” Maresca said of Trevoh Chalobah and Tosin Adarabioyo.

The Chelsea manager had ideally planned to rotate his defensive line, but the situation means Chalobah, Adarabioyo and Wesley Fofana could all be in line to feature despite fitness concerns.

“The problem is that we also have Wes Fofana playing after a long time. So if we rest Tosin, if we rest Trev, and if we rest Wes, probably I need to play some part of the game!” Maresca joked.

Fofana, who has only recently returned from a long-term injury, is still building up his match sharpness, but with Chelsea’s options stretched, the head coach has little room to manoeuvre.

“We don’t have defenders, so some of them need to play,” he added.