Chelsea

Will Faulks
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

Chelsea's run to the end of the season was bound to be dramatic given how much is on the line and how many big games are left to play, but their last two results have taken up the pressure even further.

Sitting in second place at Christmas should have given manager Enzo Maresca a comfortable cushion to work with. Instead, it just provided a higher platform to tumble from. His team have spluttered and stalled ever since, with frustration growing on all sides.

The football is dull, the results have collapsed, and the connection with the fans which had begun to form on the back of positive form before the turn of the year has long vanished. The coach's decision to blame the "environment" at Stamford Bridge for encouraging his players to play the long passes which led to Ipswich's two goals on Sunday was extremely ill-judged.

Maresca's problem is that the best possible outcome for this season now is a passing grade. Winning the Conference League won't impress anyone, but losing it would be a major black mark against him. It's the same story in the race for the top five and a Champions League place.

Maresca doesn't seem like he will be sacked this summer, no matter what happens in this final month of the season. But he increasingly looks set to go into his second campaign at Chelsea without a shred of credit in the bank with supporters.

The grumbles around the Bridge he claims affected his players on Sunday are nothing compared to what he could hear in the future if he doesn't get this team playing watchable football; or at least get them winning matches again.

Find more from Will Faulks at Chelsea News, external

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On-loan Chelsea winger Jadon Sancho says "every game is going to have to be a final" as the Blues look to secure a Champions League spot.

Currently sixth in the Premier League, Chelsea are a point behind Manchester City in the fifth and final qualification place for Europe's major club competition next season.

"We really want that Champions League spot," said England international Sancho., external "It's not over, we've still got six games to go. From now on every game is going to have to be a final, so we're going to need everyone at 100%.

"We have tough games ahead but if we stick together I'm sure we can get what we need from them."

Chelsea's next game in the Premier League is a local derby against Fulham at Craven Cottage on Sunday (14:00 BST).

Before that, they will play the second leg of their Conference League quarter-final at home against Legia Warsaw. Enzo Maresca's side won the first leg 3-0 in Poland last week.

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We asked for your views on Chelsea's Premier League game against Ipswich.

Here are some of your comments:

Chelsea fans

Dave: Rubbish, not much more to say - boring, negative, no flair, no style just backward sideways passing - the football we play deserves nothing. This manager is helping to kill football as an entertainment.

Stevie: Not good enough, no disrespect to Ipswich but taking only one point over two games from them is not enough. Not if we want to get Champions League and challenge for titles. Maresca-ball is boring and are we really any better than last year under Pochettino?

Peter: I've been a fan and a supporter of Chelsea for nearly 60 years now and even in the days of the 70s of relegations, I've never been so despondent towards a Chelsea team as I am now.

Ipswich fans

Tim: Good performance by Town, I was nervous at the start but we showed we can match the big clubs and Chelsea were fortunate to get the draw. We wasted first half of the season by dropping so many points against lower quality teams.

David: A gutsy display by a team who can only spend the same amount of money on their team as Chelsea spend on one player.

Saxon: Would have taken a draw before the game but gutted to lose points from a winning position yet again.

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Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca "is almost talking himself out of Stamford Bridge" says Nigel Reo-Coker on BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast.

Chelsea fought back from two goals down to Ipswich on Sunday but Champions League hopes were heavily dented by a home draw to a team relegation-bound.

And fans are becoming increasingly louder in voicing their annoyance at Maresca's tactics and style.

"Whether you are a manager or not, you have always got to show ambition, so the biggest mistake he made was when they were on that great run and he tried to say they weren't in the title race," said Reo-Coker. "From then on, it has started to slowly go wrong for them.

"It's not good for Maresca and it's almost like he's talking himself out of Stamford Bridge because of the response he is getting from fans.

"You have to be ambitious when you've spent that much, when you have those young players and when you are managing Chelsea. That club is built around winning because of the success they have had in recent history.

"You are expected to finish in the top four."

Sunday's performance comes a week after Maresca left key players on the bench at Brentford to rest them for the Conference League quarter-final at Legia Warszawa.

"He is making ridiculous decisions," added ex-Premier League striker Clinton Morrison. "I know a lot of Chelsea fans and they are not happy with Maresca.

"His decision making is not right and five wins in 16 league games is nowhere near good enough.

"Chelsea will fall out of the Champions League spots because they don't have one easy game in the run-in."

Blues' remaining fixtures are: Fulham [away], Everton [home], Liverpool [home], Newcastle [away], Manchester United [home] and Nottingham Forest [away].

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Highlights and analysis from Sunday's four Premier League fixtures, plus the best of the action from the rest of the weekend.

If you missed Match of the Day 2, catch up now on BBC iPlayer.

And you can watch Saturday's Match of the Day here.

Listen back to Sunday's full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Chelsea 2-2 Ipswich Town

• Liverpool 2-1 West Ham United

• Newcastle United 4-1 Manchester United

Arsenal have no plans to sign on-loan Chelsea winger Raheem Sterling, 30, on a permanent basis. (Football Insider), external

Chelsea and Bournemouth are willing to pay 35m euros (£30.3m) to sign 23-year-old American midfielder Johnny Cardoso from Spanish club Real Betis. (Fichajes - in Spanish), external

Want more transfer news? Read Monday's full gossip column

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Enzo Maresca spoke to BBC Match of the Day after Chelsea's draw against Ipswich: "Today was tough. I think their first goal changed the dynamic of the game. First 20 minutes we were in control but we miss our chances. I think after that we were not good enough first half. Second half we come back in the game."

On conceding against the run of play: "It's football. Sometimes one small thing changes the dynamic of the game. We concede and we lost a bit of confidence. Second half we got back in the game.

On the second half display: "We changed something tactically. The message was quite clear in terms of starting the right way and to create chances. When you concede it's the moment to be more strong and to continue. We played with one more midfielder.

On Jadon Sancho: "Jadon is doing well. Today we started with Noni and Pedro. We decided to give him some minutes and he was good enough."

Were you at Stamford Bridge or following from elsewhere?

Have your say on Chelsea's performance

Ipswich fans, what did you make of their display?

Come back to this page on Monday to find a selection of your replies

Four matches make up Sunday's Premier League action and BBC Sport will bring you every kick.

• Chelsea v Ipswich

• Liverpool v West Ham

• Wolves v Tottenham

• Newcastle United v Manchester United (16:30)

All kick-off times 14:00 BST unless stated

Follow all of the action and reaction here

Ipswich beat Chelsea at Portman Road earlier in the season so you cannot rule out them doing the double over Chelsea by winning at Stamford Bridge too.

Actually, I think you can. I'd love to back Ipswich to cheer up my daughter's teacher, Mr Fields, but I am done with predicting they will win. I am going to have to drop her off outside the school gates and let her walk in, because I can't risk going into the car park and seeing his sad face after another Tractor Boys defeat.

As we saw last week against Brentford, Chelsea are far from convincing in attack and can be flimsy defensively.

Cole Palmer is out of form too, but Chelsea should still have a host of chances here. If they take them, they will win comfortably.

Sutton's prediction: 3-0

Read the full predictions and have your say

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There are lots of different perspectives in terms of how you watch a game of football, and I think for the majority of time the people in the stadium get the best atmosphere, but the worst views of how a game has actually gone.

You don't really get the chance to see multiple replays and have discussions about things, because you just get caught up in the moment.

With the incoming semi automated offsides, they did promise it earlier in the season - but I think the caveat was they're only going to do it when it's ready.

It is a positive that they didn't do it when it wasn't ready.

One upside to to the new technology is some of the arguments disappear. Previously you could say 'but it looks like it's this to me' or 'it looks like it's that to me'. When it is presented now, there aren't many people that will then be looking at the animation, going back to the video, and then going down a proper conspiracy rabbit hole.

So, it ends more arguments, not all arguments, but more arguments.

I think people, as a consequence, will be more accepting of it.

But, I still do believe that there's things for people to understand, because it can't be used in every situation. There are certain decisions which can still be a little bit more complex, and there's certain times where human intervention will still need to be brought in.

I wouldn't say it's as clear as, say, goal line technology, but it's a step in the direction to where most people feel more comfortable accepting the outcome and the speed of it as well will be encouraged.

It's not to say that it's going to be instant. If you believe this is going to be perfect, and always extremely fast, ask yourself, why do you think that?

Unless somebody has told you that from PGMOL, then take it with a pinch of salt and you see how it goes.

I think it's something that many people have seen before so hopefully there will be fewer arguments.

But, because it's football, there'll always be something to argue about the end of the day.

Image source, Getty Images

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca is wary of any extra motivation Ipswich may have as the two sides face each other on Sunday.

The Tractor Boys are 12 points from safety and have won only four league games all season. Three of those came away from home, while their solitary win at Portman Road was against Chelsea in the reverse fixture.

"It will be a tough game, no doubt." Maresca said. "In this moment, any team you face is complicated. No matter if it's Southampton, Ipswich or Leicester, because they want to show themselves and finish in the right way. They don't like to lose games, so it will be tough."

Ipswich forward and leading goalscorer Liam Delap crossed paths with Maresca when the pair were at Manchester City.

"In terms of numbers, he's doing fantastic." Maresca said of the 22 year-old. "The way he plays and fights and is always 'there'. But he's an Ipswich player. He's an enemy on Sunday because we need to beat them, and then after the game I wish him all the best for the future.

"[His ability to self-create chances] is something we need to pay attention to, for sure. If you watch Ipswich, he is doing that against any team, not just against us. But in the first game, he was quite good for them. We need to deal with that, and we need to do much better compared to the first game."

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Chelsea have kept a clean sheet in four of their past five Premier League games, as many as their previous 29 beforehand.

The Blues are looking to record three successive league clean sheets for the first time since February 2023 under Graham Potter.

Real Betis are holding out for £35m as Chelsea step up their interest in highly rated Spanish winger Jesus Rodriguez, 19. (Mail), external

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Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca, speaking after the Blues' 3-0 win at Legia Warsaw: "We planned the game to try to have our best players for this game, and to give a chance to rest players and recover energy.

"It was a professional performance and a good result. We were much better in the second half, for different reasons. We need to learn to play different times of games.

"When they sit back, you have to be quicker on the ball. You have to shoot from outside the box because they are all inside the box. If you don't shoot, it's difficult. The first goal came from Reece shooting outside the box, and Ty [George] was there for the rebound.

"From television you can say lack of tempo, but it's not easy. You have to find solutions. It's a different game. You have to learn to play games against teams that sit back. For sure you can take more risks, or take more shots when you arrive at the edge."

On Tyrique George scoring his first senior goal for the club: "I am really happy for the Chelsea Academy, first of all. He is one of our boys from the Academy. I'm very happy for him.

"He was quite good first half. He took responsibility. Second half in the middle he was a bit better."

On the performance of Josh Acheampong: "The one I fell in love with tonight was Josh Acheampong.

"For me potentially he can be a fantastic player for this club and in football in general.

"Since we started, I am in love with him, but tonight he showed he can be a very good player for this club.

"A good player shows you they can play in different positions.

"He was full-back good, midfielder good, central defender good. It's not about playing in that position, or that position. If you are a good player, you can play in different positions.

"He can be good in different positions. The best thing about Josh also is he is open. He wants to learn. Full-back? Okay, no problem. What do I have to do? Perfect. Midfielder? What do I have to do? This is a player who wants to play in all positions, who wants to learn. Josh is doing that since we started."

Michael Emons
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Reuters

It was a night 19-year-old winger Tyrique George would always remember as he grabbed his first senior Chelsea goal as the Blues looked to have continued their routine progress through Europe's third-tier competition.

Enzo Maresca's side have been tipped to win the Conference League right from the start of their campaign and they cruised to a 3-0 away win over Polish side Legia Warsaw in the first leg of their quarter-final to ensure next week's second leg should be a mere formality.

After a poor first half, Chelsea only needed four minutes of the second to open the scoring with George reacting quickest to convert the rebound after Reece James' effort had been parried.

George, who has been with the club since he was eight, was understandably delighted and Chelsea legend Joe Cole, speaking on TNT Sports, said: "What a moment for the young man. It's beautiful to see when an academy player scores their first goal."

Two goals for Noni Madueke, the second coming shortly after Christopher Nkunku had seen his penalty saved, completed the convincing 3-0 victory to take Chelsea a step closer to getting their hands on a European trophy this season.

Were you at the game or following from elsewhere?

Have your say on Chelsea's performance

Come back to this page on Friday to find a selection of your replies

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Chelsea and Senegal striker Nicolas Jackson had a difficult start to life in English football but he has impressed this season and, after an injury lay-off, has recently been described in the UK media as "indispensable" to Enzo Maresca's team.

So, as he returns to full fitness just in time for the Blues' crucial run-in to the end of the campaign, World Football's John Bennett, football journalist Rahman Osman and BBC Sport's football news reporter Nizaar Kinsella discuss Jackson's journey from The Gambia to the Premier League and whether he is now - along with Cole Palmer - most crucial to Chelsea?

Plus, will he be first choice next season or will the club bring in a new number nine to replace him?

Listen to the full World Football episode on BBC Sounds