Chelsea boss Maresca leaps to defend under-fire new captain Fernandez but these stats show he needs to do SO much better

ENZO MARESCA defended naming Enzo Fernandez as Chelsea captain – but might struggle to explain the midfielder’s troubling match stats.

Fernandez made little attacking impact as the Blues opened their Premier League season with a 2-0 home loss to champs Manchester City.

And the Argentinian’s facts and figures did equally little to justify his selection – in many senses of the word.

Maresca has backed the World Cup winner after he filmed himself singing a racist chant aimed at French players following Copa America glory.

But the £107million buy could need to improve on this day-one performance to even stay in the Chelsea team, let alone continue as stand-in skipper when Reece James is absent.

Fernandez’s Stamford Bridge stats on Sunday highlighted his failings.

True, he did complete 45 passes, with seven others not completed.

But our map of every ball he delivered shows the vast majority were pretty much sent sideways rather than forward.

Most were knocked out wide from the centre of the pitch.

Only one into the box arrived accurately, although a small handful were played just outside.

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And the mere two occasions on which Fernandez dispatched passes into the six-yard box, they were both off-target.

The duo alongside him in midfield, Romeo Lavia and Moises Caicedo, are more anchormen than springboards for creating chances.

That means Maresca must expect more from Fernandez – probably much more.

Nicolas Jackson was Chelsea’s only out-and-out frontman against Pep Guardiola‘s stylists.

Cole Palmer, by far last season’s main man for goals and assists, played just behind.

And the finally-fit – but fitful – Christopher Nkunku was quiet out wide, in fact looking more at ease when he featured inside.

Fernandez had one of Chelsea’s only three efforts on target as they amassed just 10 goal attempts in all.

But he made no dribbles, won just two tackles and only once put in an accurate cross.

In contrast, City netted from two of their 11 on-target efforts – from Erling Haaland lethally and Blues’ old boy Mateo Kovacic spectacularly.

However, Maresca insisted Fernandez is a positive influence.

The new Stamford Bridge boss said: “He’s one of the captains. He’s not the only captain. But he is the captain today.

“I can see the team-mates, they like him as a player and as a man.”

And Maresca claims the 23-year-old knows his behaviour was wrong when sparking a racism row just weeks ago.

The ex-Leicester chief said: “All of us sometimes do some mistakes. The important thing is to recognise and it’s finished.”

“I don’t know about you but I made mistakes in the past and I recognised and I think if, as a human being, you make a mistake and recognise you are not going to be punished for life.”

“‘Enzo did a mistake, he recognised and there is nothing to add.”

Chelsea players Wesley Fofana and David Datro-Fofana were among those who spoke out following unacceptable chanting from Argentina stars.

Fernandez was at the centre of the outrage as he shared a video of the scenes, with racist and transphobic words belted out.

He “apologised sincerely” on Instagram and admitted “the song includes highly offensive language and there is absolutely no excuse”.

He also made a donation to an anti-discrimination charity.

That all led to Chelsea considering the matter closed without taking action against him.