Although Chelsea’s players have adopted Enzo Maresca’s style of play more quickly than the Italian manager anticipated, he stated on Tuesday that the club still had space for development before a Premier League matchup with Southampton.
Maresca was hired earlier this year with the goal of getting Chelsea back into the Champions League after the London team placed sixth the previous season and 12th in the 2022–2023 campaign.
Chelsea is nine points behind leaders Liverpool and tied with second-place Arsenal in third position with 25 points from 13 games.
When asked if he was taken aback by his team’s performance, Maresca responded: “
“For sure. I still consider this a big job, but this doesn’t mean, because it’s a big job, you are not thinking to do the right things.
“In terms of expectation, we are ahead of my expectation, in the way we are playing and in terms of results.
“We started four or five months ago; it’s very, very, very, very early, a short time together.
“But the best feeling I have is that there are many things we can do better and we are (going) in the right direction.”
When Chelsea visits Southampton, who are now in last place in the league, they will be hoping to extend their winning streak to five games.
However, Maresca cautioned that the south coast club’s standings position does not accurately reflect their current standings.
Russell Martin’s team managed to tie with fourth-place Brighton & Hove Albion in their most recent league match, and both Manchester City and Liverpool had to fight hard for their recent tight victories over Southampton.
“We need to be ready otherwise it will be a bad day for us and the reason why is because, if you analyse the results, they are there,” the Italian manager said.
“The way they have played since last year – when I was in the Championship – I know them quite well.
” They are very brave and it’s very clear what they want, they want to keep the ball and we want the same.”
Wesley Fofana, a defender who hobbled off the pitch during Chelsea’s 3-0 victory over Aston Villa on Sunday, will be out for weeks due to a hamstring injury, Maresca revealed.
The Frenchman has established a solid relationship with Levi Colwill at the core of Chelsea’s defence, so his absence will be felt deeply.
“We need to wait a little bit and hopefully we can get some more news in the next days,” Maresca said.
“But, for sure, he will be out for the next weeks. It depends on the gameplan, Benoit (Badiashile) could be one of the solutions, but we have different players that can play there.
“It’s a big loss because Wes was doing fantastic every game, but we need to accept it and find a solution.”