Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca gave a brutally short response to being asked about his reason for leaving Noni Madueke out of the squad for today’s game against Fulham.
The Blues suffered a surprise 2-1 defeat at home to their west London rivals, with Cole Palmer giving Maresca’s men the lead in the first half before two late goals sealed the victory for Marco Silva’s side.
Chelsea make decision on THREE loaned-out players
One surprise decision from Maresca was the absence of Madueke from the squad, with the Italian tactician explaining afterwards that it was just a technical decision and not anything to do with the player’s fitness.
See below for Maresca’s comments in the post-match press conference…
??? Enzo Maresca on Madueke out: “Technical decision”. @BeanymanSports ?? pic.twitter.com/jOOr9SeE14
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) December 26, 2024
Maresca clearly must have felt that Madueke hadn’t earned his place in today’s squad, but it remains to be seen if he will elaborate on this any further in the coming days.
Madueke has mostly impressed for Chelsea this season, though it’s also fair to say that Maresca has a lot of other options to choose from in attack.
Chelsea may have been without Madueke today, but the main headline is that they suffered another setback after their draw away to Everton.
Although Maresca has always maintained that his team are not yet ready to challenge for the Premier League title, there will surely be fans who’ll feel they’ve under-achieved in their last two games.
CFC had been looking like they could be surprise contenders in this year’s title race, but the results against Everton and Fulham perhaps show that Maresca was right, and that this set of players are perhaps not quite ready to see out an entire season at the very top of the table.
Still, there is surely the chance for Chelsea to mount a serious top four challenge, so that’s progress on last season, and today’s defeat won’t necessarily change that.
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