Enzo Maresca is ready to unleash Cole Palmer on the Conference League with Marc Cucurella saying Chelsea need to prove they are a big club by living up to their favourites tag.

Chelsea face Copenhagen away on Thursday night in a last-16 first leg they are expected to win, with the Danish Superliga leaders even sidelining their best player – the former Southampton attacker Mohamed Elyounoussi – as a precaution after he felt pain in the last week.

Speaking last night, Cucurella said: ‘This is another opportunity to show that we are ready. We need to do the last step. It's a good moment to show that we are ready to fight for big things.’

On the fans showing their frustration of late, such as the protest staged before their last Premier League win over Southampton, Cucurella added: ‘I can understand it. The fans can show their feelings. We need to show in the games that we know that Chelsea is a top club.

‘The most important thing is we don't listen to this noise and then we show that we have a lot of energy and we want to win and we want to defend this badge in the best way.

‘In December it looked like we were the best team in the league and now it looks like we are one of the worst. But in football, this can happen. We are young. We have a new manager. We have new ideas. We play good football. We can understand the fans.

‘They support Chelsea, and we need to stay together. It doesn't matter if we win or lose. This is a long project. We are in a good way and we need to continue working hard because hopefully we can win something this season.’

Maresca will start Robert Sanchez in goal over Filip Jorgensen, with the Spaniard now their cup goalkeeper after losing his position as No 1 in the Premier League.

Palmer is also expected to start after previously being left out of all of their previous Conference League games after their play-offs in August. It is a strong squad that has been brought to Copenhagen which also includes Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez.

‘Cole is excited to play training sessions, so for sure, he is excited to play these games,’ Maresca said. ‘The plan was exactly this plan (to bring him back into the Conference League squad).'