Get those players back next month, Maresca says, and his team will carry fresh momentum into the run-in, hopefully still with a Conference League title and Champions League qualification still on the line.
Ahead of this evening’s trip to Brighton, Maresca was responding to criticism over the Blues’ FA Cup defeat on the same ground six nights ago, and in particular his claim that their exit would at least narrow focus on the Premier League and Conference League for the remainder of the campaign.
Chelsea are hardly alone in their predicament, though interestingly Maresca declined yesterday to move with the masses in blaming an overloaded calendar for his team’s fitness woes, instead pointing out how many of his absentees are coming off major injuries earlier in their young careers.
There were echoes of Maresca’s repeated insistence through the first half of the season that this was not a team ready to emulate Chelsea’s great title-winning sides, only with one key difference.
Why should Chelsea, after six months, be winning the Premier League, finishing in the top four or winning four competitions.
