Chelsea can prove Maresca’s most controversial statement correct in next 13 days | OneFootball

Enzo Maresca’s most controversial statement of the season came a couple of weeks ago when Chelsea were knocked out of the FA Cup by Brighton on a Friday night.

Following a poor performance, the manager said there was a positive – the fact that his team were now out of both domestic cups meant they could now focus on the league and the Conference League.

“We started very good, controlled and created some chances. The second-half more or less happened the same. If there is something good after a defeat is now we can be focused on the Premier League and Conference,” the coach said.

It was obvious why that was inflammatory, and we discussed it at the time. Maresca even tried to walk it back and claim it wasn’t really what he meant. But his point was clear, and now here we are, facing a free weekend instead of the next round of the cup.

Maresca can prove he was right if Chelsea use free week to go up a gear

Enzo Maresca with Cole Palmer and Jadon Sancho in a montage (Photo by The Daily Telegraph)

Perhaps Maresca can make us all eat our words with his efforts between Tuesday’s win over Southampton and next week’s Conference League first leg against Copenhagen. He elected not to have a warn weather training camp, instead allowing players some extra time with their families, and will get plenty of training time with them.

This restful period is followed by two winnable Conference League games and a Premier League fixture against Leicester, the only team looking as bad as Southampton in recent weeks. If we romp through those and build confidence, then get good results against Arsenal and Tottenham to follow, Maresca’s controversial statements will all be looking a lot more reasonable.

Let’s see what you’ve got, Blues!