After a fantastic start to the campaign, things are no longer going well for Enzo Maresca at Chelsea.
Chelsea‘s 2-1 loss to Aston Villa over the weekend was their second successive defeat in the Premier League after losing 3-0 against Brighton & Hove Albion earlier this month.
Enzo Maresca is also having to contend with injury issues right now, with Nicolas Jackson, Noni Madueke, Romeo Lavia, Wesley Fofana and Benoit Badiashile all currently unavailable for selection.
Madueke should not be injured for too long, but things are not looking good for Maresca presently.
Craig Burley thinks Enzo Maresca will be sacked if Chelsea finish outside top six
Following their defeat to Villa and Newcastle United’s victory over Nottingham Forest, Chelsea now find themselves seventh in the table.
Finish there or lower, and former Blues midfielder Craig Burley thinks Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali will get rid of Maresca at the end of the season, even if he wins the Conference League.
Discussing the Chelsea owners and Maresca on ESPN, Burley said: “Chelsea have an ownership I think that has a very short memory, and I don’t think they’re even thinking about all that really good football Chelsea played in the first two or three months of the season when they were excellent.
“One of the best teams to watch getting forward, creating chances, playing with pace, all of those things. I don’t think the Chelsea hierarchy are sitting and watching videos going, ‘Oh, that was great, wasn’t it?’ It’s what can you do for me now?
“And as they start to slip down the table… are we saying if they finish seventh or eighth in the table again, he’s going to survive that? Even if he wins the Conference, I’m not sure he will. I think they’ll write him a cheque and they’ll go a different direction and find somebody else. That’s the business we’re in.”
Gareth Southgate could become an emergency option for Chelsea
Maresca’s position looks safe for now. In fact, Chelsea co-owner and director Jonathan Goldstein thinks Maresca is doing “great” at Stamford Bridge.
However, it has been claimed that while the club are not looking for a new manager at this moment in time, if Maresca’s job becomes untenable between now and the end of the season, then Chelsea could turn to Gareth Southgate as an interim option.
Some Chelsea fans may not be satisfied with Maresca right now, but they will not want to see Southgate in the Stamford Bridge dugout.
The former England manager overlooked Cole Palmer at Euro 2024 and was unable to win anything with the Three Lions in the end, while he has not coached in the Premier League since 2009.
Thankfully, the above seems to be very unlikely and just a worst-case scenario that the Chelsea board are thinking about.
Despite their bad form of late, the team are still only one point behind fourth, meaning that they are still in contention for Champions League qualification. At this stage of the season, that is all the Chelsea owners would have ask for.
