Chelsea could be about to be handed a major boost to their hopes of achieving success in Europe this season.

The Blues finished top of the UEFA Conference League league phase standings as the only club with a 100 percent record and six wins from six. As a result, Chelsea will now look ahead to the last-16 of the competition as they face one of the clubs that progresses from the play-off round.

Enzo Maresca will be able to make changes to the squad that Chelsea named for the competition back in September. UEFA rules state that clubs can add signings from the January window to their squads, but only once the league phase has been completed.

READ MORE: Chelsea will complete next transfer weeks after deadline day as confusing £17m decision explained

READ MORE: Chelsea have already completed triple £85m transfer swoop for Enzo Maresca after deadline day

Chelsea also left some notable names from their original Conference League squad earlier in the season. One player who was not included was Cole Palmer, who will now be expected to be involved for the second half of the season.

In order for that to happen, though, Chelsea would need to remove some existing names from the squad from the first half of the campaign. The Blues sanctioned the loan exits of Joao Felix, Axel Disasi, Renato Veiga and Carney Chukwuemeka during the January transfer window, while Cesare Casadei left to complete a permanent move to Torino.

As a result of Chelsea having those five players leave the club, they now have room to add Palmer to their squad for the knockout stages of the Conference League. The Blues are not expected to be in action in the competition until March, with the first leg of the last-16 pencilled in for March 6 before the return leg a week later on March 13.

Chelsea will move a step closer to finding out their last-16 opponents once the play-off round is completed. Both legs of the play-offs will take place later this month.