January 3, 2025
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca looks ahead to tomorrow's clash against Crystal Palace and reveals defender Wesley Fofana could be out for the rest of the season with a severe hamstring tear. In better news, Maresca says Romeo Lavia is close to returning.
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Reece James is back from the last game. Romeo is close, he has started working with us again. Unfortunately Fofana will be out for a very long time.
0:51 Now the focus is on Crystal Palace not on the transfer window.
1:12 James is back. We didn't want to use him against Ipswich. Tomorrow is different, we can give him some minutes.
1:38 I didn't need to lose games to understand we were not in the title race. It's nice to be up there but I knew we weren't ready.
2:15 I'm always concerned even when we win games. We have to analyse game by game. We created many clear chances.
2:55 I don't think any of us in this room expected us to be where we are. Hopefully we can be third or second again, but we could be down to fifth or sixth.
3:37 We don't like to lose games but it's not going to affect our journey. We are all aware that you are going to have dips. This is now the second part of the season, we will win games and we will lose games. This is a journey which started five months ago.
4:42 You don't just need good players to win titles. You need to be a team in difficult moments. City, Arsenal and Liverpool are more ready than us, hopefully we will be there soon.
5:23 Palace are very aggressive, they can hurt you. We need to manage the game well.
5:59 Anselmino is another talent, good player. He needs to settle and then we need to give him time. For sure we will help him to adapt as soon as possible.
6:29 We all consider Romeo a top player. When he's fit he can influence games, very important player.
7:07 I expect Fofana will be out for the season. I'm in love with Wes because he's that kind of defender to give you a chance to press. It's very difficult to find a defender like him.
8:08 Top four? We are there. We need to improve many things but for sure we will try and be there at the end of the season.
8:29 The club never said about Championship or Champions League. It's a building process four or five years.
9:03 I'm not looking too far ahead. I can imagine Champions League but the future is fake. You have to win games in the present.
10:04 Jackson can do many things better. He's scored nine goals, last season he scored 14. We are completely happy with Nico.
10:37 I cannot say anything about players leaving. Ben Chilwell could leave this month.
11:24 Football is all about players. Romeo is a top player for us. With him we are a better team but without him we have to manage games. We are a much better team with Reece James. I can give players the tools but if players are not good enough, we won't win games.
12:53 Wesley's injury we realised it was far worse than we first thought. It's a really bad hamstring tear. We will lose him for a while. He will be back.
14:05 The plan is to keep An
By HaytersTV
