The honeymoon under Enzo Maresca is well and truly over. Chelsea were thrashed at Brighton & Hove Albion to extend their miserable Premier League run, less than a week after previously being dumped from the FA Cup at the AMEX Stadium.
Chelsea haven’t so much flatlined as regressed over the past couple of months, having now won only two of their past nine top-flight fixtures, throwing their hopes of Champions League football into jeopardy.
There’s plenty of time to turn things around and, moreover, Chelsea will remain fourth until at least this evening, but with Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu both sidelined, fears are growing.
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Chelsea – Premier League Form 24/25 |
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|---|---|---|
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First 16 Games |
Last 9 Games |
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|
W |
10 |
2 |
|
D |
4 |
3 |
|
L |
2 |
4 |
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P(PG) |
34 (2.12) |
9 (1.00) |
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Stats via Premier League |
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However, it was at the back that the Blues were at their nadir on the South Coast, with Filip Jorgensen’s performance between the sticks presenting Maresca with quite the conundrum.
Chelsea’s goalkeeping dilemma
It was a big night for the Chelsea goalkeeper, who has replaced Robert Sanchez as Maresca’s number-one after costly mistakes in recent months.
GOAL’s Mitchell Fretton branded the Swedish shot-stopper with a 4/10 rating after his error-strewn display, soft in failing to prevent Kauro Mitoma’s opening goal and wasteful in possession, nearly being punished late on save for Joao Pedro’s poor finish.
Jorgensen definitely wasn’t helped by his defenders but the lack of authority showed, and Brighton punished him dearly.
However, the backline will surely hang their heads in shame. Trevoh Chalobah and Levi Colwill lacked strength and composure in the centre, but Marc Cucurella endured a tough evening indeed against the two-goal Yankuba Minteh.
Marc Cucurella was “awful” vs Brighton
Cucurella has been a mainstay for Maresca’s Chelsea this season after an exemplary Euro 2024 campaign with Spain, but he’s not infallible and it showed against the Seagulls, with GOAL also marking the 26-year-old with a lowly 4/10 match rating.
Such a flimsy and uninspiring display could call for Colwill to shift out to left-back for the next game. The England international flattered to deceive too but his ball-playing and tackling qualities may serve well, especially with Reece James coming back into the team.
In fairness, Cucurella was pitted against the electric Minteh, who arguably put in the statement performance of his Premier League career so far.
However, Aston Villa await next weekend and they have no shortage of exciting attackers.
Cucurella won four of his eight contested ground duels, as per Sofascore, but he was dribbled past twice by the speedster and failed to even attempt a dribble of his own as Jamie Carragher on Sky Sports co-commentary rebuked the Spaniard’s “awful defending” for the third and final goal.
Chelsea need to stabilise. This is not a crisis. Nor is it a team that has lost its way. But Maresca does have a task on his hands in steering Stamford Bridge back on course.
To do so, changes might be useful in the short term. Cucurella may need to be one of them.
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