Chelsea Football Club set to play an important match against Manchester United. What’s more, their hopes for Champions League qualification are hanging in the balance. As of this writing, Chelsea is fifth in the Premier League table with 63 points. They are level on points with sixth-placed Aston Villa but have a vastly superior goal difference. The stakes are raised even more as the team competes for a top-five finish, which would at least give them a shot to qualify for the Champions League.
New head coach Enzo Maresca has been pleasantly surprised this season. Given where they started the campaign, he said, they’d have taken it at the beginning of the campaign if you told them they’d be two wins away from qualifying for the Champions League. Chelsea’s defeats on the week Chelsea’s recent form has been spotty, starting the season hot and being second and third for much of the first two months. Yet consistency has escaped them too often leaving them to do battle to the last for a much sought after European Play-Off spot.
As Chelsea goes into their next fixture, Chelsea has enormous problems with all of their attacking front. Further complicating matters, Marc Guiu is still out injured, and Christopher Nkunku hasn’t appeared in the last half-dozen games. Maresca acknowledged the difficulties by stating, “Unfortunately, Marc Guiu is still injured. He has started to train with us but he’s not ready to play from the start and we’re working on different options for Friday night.”
The lack of these players’ presence places additional burden on Chelsea. This challenge is compounded after Nico Jackson notoriously got shown a red card for serious foul play on Dan Burn, making them even more goal-shy. Maresca remarked on Jackson’s situation, adding, “Nico is intelligent enough to recognise there has been an error. There has been a mistake. That’s all I have to say about that.”
Even with all these setbacks, Maresca is hopeful for Chelsea’s ability to close out the season. He pointed to the club’s proud tradition of winning major trophies and consistently qualifying for the Champions League. This season’s performance is going to be key. I know, I know — it’s very different inaugural season, right, but the last two years (Chelsea finished) 12th and sixth. This is not a title. So it’s no longer about (what Chelsea did) 10 years ago or 15 years ago,” he said.
Yet, clearly, Chelsea are not laser-focused solely on the Premier League. They’re preparing to meet Real Betis in the Conference League final May 28. Along with his overall ambitions for the new campaign, Maresca feels Chelsea will have had a successful season if they achieve a top-five berth. Winning the Conference League title would only complete that success. “The players are aware, the coaching staff are aware, the club is aware and hopefully we can finish the season there,” he concluded.
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