are reportedly running the risk of being punished by FIFA at the with prepared to defy the rulebook. The west Londoners made a winning start to their campaign earlier this week, cruising to a 2-0 victory over LAFC. They will face Flamengo in their second group stage match on Friday before going up against ES Tunis five days later.

Maresca fielded a relatively strong team against LAFC, with the likes of Reece James, Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson all starting. Liam Delap and Dario Essugo came off the bench to make their Chelsea debuts in the second half. The former grabbed a late assist, setting up Enzo Fernandez to make sure of the victory.

It remains to be seen how Chelsea will line up when they entertain Flamengo in their next Club World Cup match. If too many changes are made, they will be putting themselves at risk of an unusual punishment.

When the Blues agreed to take part in the tournament, they had to sign a participation agreement. One of the stipulations was a promise to 'field their strongest team throughout the competition', according to the .

As a result, they could face the wrath of FIFA if they field a rotated line-up against Flamengo. Maresca is prepared to take that risk, with the Italian adamant that rotation is necessary given that his players are coming off the back of a long season.

The hot climate in the United States is also thought to be a factor in Maresca's desire to chop and change his Chelsea teams. Only time will tell if a punishment is handed down, with FIFA reportedly aware that it will be a difficult rule to enforce.

The governing body have not revealed what the punishment would be if Chelsea are found to have contravened the terms of their participation agreement.

Maresca insisted that he would be rotating his squad ahead of the Blues' opening game against LAFC, saying: "First of all, it's a tournament and we have three games in less than ten days. So we need to rotate for sure.
"Liam [Delap] is not starting today. Nico [Jackson] is starting. The next game we will see, but for sure we will rotate players. We have to go game by game.

"You cannot play the final if you don't win games. You cannot win the semi-final if you don't win games. So we have to start today, try to win games, and then we will take it step by step."