Following a commanding 4-0 win over Aston Villa with a squad that featured youngsters such as Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Kenedy and Abdul Baba Rahman, Chelsea will feature more young players as they travel to Wales to face Swansea City.
Matt Miazga and Jake Clarke-Salter also made their Premier League debuts, with Miazga starting and playing the entire 90 minutes. Clarke-Salter was a substitute for goal-scorer Pedro in the 74th minute.
A youth filled starting eleven is something that lots of Blues fans have wanted for a long time. Under ex-manager Jose Mourinho, the lack of playing academy players was a big point of criticism from the fans and journalists.
Hiddink gives fitness update
Guus Hiddink said to the media at Cobham, "John Terry is still not available, he has a little problem with his Achilles like last week."
He continued, "He’s been on the training pitch, doing his exercises, but he’s not fully recovered."
Hiddink explained that Diego Costa, Eden Hazard, Nemanja Matic and Loic Remy are out.
Which led him to say, "Nevertheless we will bring in some youngsters as we did last week."
Miazga making the step up
The absence of Terry opens the door for Miazga to cement his place as a bright future at the heart of Chelsea's defence. Loftus-Cheek is set to fill in for the absence of Matic.
Remy being ruled out for the match means Hiddink will have to make a tough choice on who to start up front. He subbed Alexandre Pato on for Remy when the Frenchman was injured against Aston Villa and Pato scored. However, there are other options such as 20-year-old Bertrand Traore.
With Chelsea struggling in the league, and the prospects of playing European football next season looking very bleak, playing the youth players and academy products can give a good indication as to who can make the next step into becoming a first team regular.