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Enzo Maresca is facing an end-of-season review into his future as Chelsea head coach - having been told at his appointment that he would be given at least two years before an examination of his performance.
Whereas the Italian's predecessor Mauricio Pochettino was reviewed after a single season – and he left by mutual decision following that internal assessment – Blues bosses felt their participation in the summer’s Club World Cup meant they practically faced two seasons in one.
Craving stability, they handed Maresca a five-year contract in 2024 with the option of a sixth, and earmarked summer 2026 as a potentially appropriate time to assess progress.
Barring any sudden change, that remains the plan for this summer, with Chelsea hoping they will have secured Champions League football by the time they sit down with Maresca.
That will be one key area on which the 45-year-old is judged. The Blues are already in Europe’s elite competition and believe the squad they have this season is better than the last.
When reviewing Pochettino’s position, Chelsea leaned on data which told them they should have finished fourth, not sixth. It is understood they also considered his willingness to work within the club’s structure, whether individual players were improving and why injuries were occurring.
Enzo Maresca has Chelsea's support until the end of the season, despite two damaging Premier League defeats in recent weeks
As reported by Daily Mail Sport earlier this week, Maresca retains full faith from within Chelsea, who are not panicking after back-to-back Premier League losses which involved red cards.
Champions Liverpool travel to the Bridge on Saturday evening, before a trip to Nottingham Forest and the Champions League clash at home to Ajax.
Caicedo, Joao Pedro, Fernandez playing through pain
One line from Maresca’s post-Benfica press conference was intriguing as Chelsea’s head coach told us he has players who are continuing to play out of necessity despite being at risk of injury.
He did not name them, but it is fairly easy to surmise that he was referring specifically to Moises Caicedo, Joao Pedro and Enzo Fernandez.
Enzo Fernandez (left) and Moises Caicedo (right), as well as Joao Pedro, are playing on while nursing injuries
They have played the most minutes in the Premier League this season. Caicedo and Joao Pedro have had to skip training sessions of late, while Fernandez has been spotted with strapping on his knee.
They may not be 100 per cent, but they are playing on due to others being unavailable.
Just beat it
Before each game, Joao Pedro likes to take a walk on the pitch wearing his bright yellow customised Beats by Dre headphones with a ‘JP’ logo on the side.
It is suspected to be no coincidence as the Brazilian is believed to be among their sponsored athletes, having previously used his Instagram to advertise on their behalf.
Joao Pedro with his signature yellow Beats headphones, embossed with his JP insignia
Who was Tuchel watching?
England head coach Thomas Tuchel was at Stamford Bridge for his old team's clash with Benfica on Tuesday, though he was limited in the players there for his surveying.
Chalobah and Tyrique George were the only starters, while Jamie Gittens, Josh Acheampong and Reece James came on as substitutes.
Gittens has struggled since signing for £48.8million from Borussia Dortmund, but Chelsea retain full faith that he will come good, it being early days in the 21-year-old's career.
Meanwhile, fans directing hate towards Gittens on X appear to be falling for a fake account.
Fans don’t love The Fratellis
Chelsea fans are not in love with their club now playing music immediately after a goal is scored at Stamford Bridge, with ‘Chelsea Dagger’ by The Fratellis the song of choice. One supporter has even set up a petition which has been signed by more than 1,000 people thus far.
It was brought up in the last fans forum held a few weeks back and the club claimed it is improving the atmosphere. Chelsea added the volume between stands is set to one level and cannot be varied as it would be very expensive to replace.
Good to go, Guiu?
When Ajax visit Stamford Bridge on October 22, Chelsea will have no Liam Delap because of his hamstring injury and no Joao Pedro due to his red card against Benfica. George also showed against on Tuesday night that he lacks presence in that position.
Will Marc Guiu finally get a go? If so, Maresca could do with giving him minutes in their Premier League games versus Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, rather than throwing him straight into a Champions League showdown.
But there may be a snag. As mentioned in last week’s column, if Guiu plays a single minute for Chelsea, he would not be able to be loaned away in January and would have to stay where he is for the entire season.
That's because he has already represented Sunderland this season in his brief loan spell on Wearside, and a player can only play for a maximum of two clubs in any given campaign.
Will the visit of Ajax on October 22 finally see Marc Guiu return to Chelsea colours?
Report into Djurgardens fiasco drops
The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust have released their report into the club’s Conference League semi-final second-leg win over Djurgardens in May, when thousands of away supporters infiltrated the home stands, described as one of the most significant breaches of stadium security ever.
Among the responses they received from members included the following statements. ‘It felt like a regression to the bad old days of the 70s,’ one said. ‘This was the first time in 60-plus years I’ve left a game early because I feared for my family’s safety,’ was another.
Djurgardens fans found their way into the home end at Stamford Bridge in May - and were met with aggression from the Chelsea fans
The Swedish side were in their first ever European semi-final and brought thousands of fans over to London
There were repeated references to potential ‘tragedy’ and ‘disaster’ and the atmosphere was described as ‘hostile’ and ‘tense’, with it felt the only reason violence did not erupt being the fact that Chelsea won so comfortably – 1-0 on the night, 5-1 on aggregate.
Among the CST’s recommendations to their club is that they need to pre-verify membership accounts for general-sale tickets, ban large-scale resales of tickets near matchdays, and improve security measures as stewards were criticised for being ‘kids who shrugged their shoulders’.
It's not Chelsea being fined for once!
Though Trevoh Chalobah received a red card, for once, Chelsea are not the ones being fined by the Football Association for ill discipline after their last Premier League fixture.
Instead, it is Brighton who will be forced to hand over £25,000 as they received six yellow cards in their 3-1 win at Stamford Bridge, including one shown to manager Fabian Hurzeler.
