Enzo Maresca faces losing his job at Chelsea unless results improve in January after a run of one win in seven league matches | Football news

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Enzo Maresca faces losing his job at Chelsea unless results improve in January after a run of one win in seven league matches | Football news

Enzo Maresca will need to quickly improve his results at Chelsea if he is to keep his job after a run of one win in seven Premier League matches.

Two further discouraging and lackluster performances at Stamford Bridge against Aston Villa and Bournemouth over the holiday period increased the pressure on the Italian.

Maresca’s fortunes were dizzying after Chelsea beat Barcelona 3-0 in November and found themselves three points off the top of the table, but a series of self-inflicted injuries, questionable decisions and damaging defeats to Leeds, Atalanta and Villa have put him under more pressure than ever.

He lifted the lid on his difficult relationship with his employers at Stamford Bridge earlier in December with his incendiary comments after his team beat Everton, saying the days leading up to the match had been “the worst 48 hours” of his time at the club and that “a lot of people” didn’t support him or the team.

As everyone knows, football is all about results. Maresca finishes 2025 as Chelsea head coach but is unlikely to make it to the end of January unless results improve quickly.

This is the second season in a row that Chelsea have lost out in the winter months under Maresca. Last season they only won two league matches between mid-December and the last week of February.

This year, a likely defining January for Maresca features nine matches spread across four competitions.

Chelsea players were given two days off following Tuesday’s 2-2 draw against Bournemouth. They will return to training on Friday to prepare for Sunday’s match at Manchester City, live on Aerial sports.

Chelsea were a point ahead of City in the Premier League just over five weeks ago, but they will travel to Manchester having fallen 10 points behind Pep Guardiola’s side, and have also fallen 15 points from winning positions this season.

Are there problems behind the scenes at Chelsea?

Kaveh Solhekol, Sky Sports News chief correspondent:

“There seems to be something wrong at Chelsea. In November they were flying high after beating Barcelona in the Champions League, but since then they have only won two games out of nine.

“There was a self-inflicted wound with comments made after Chelsea beat Everton, where he said the days leading up to the game had been ‘the worst 48 hours’ of his time at the club and that ‘a lot of people’ didn’t support him. He didn’t need to make those comments, but it lifted the lid that things behind the scenes weren’t quite right at Chelsea.

“When you are at Chelsea you are not the manager, you are the head coach and you have to fit into the structure that has been put in place at the club. There are sporting directors that Maresca has to work closely with and there has to be a team behind the team.

“The question is: Is this team united or are there problems behind the scenes on this team? Can these problems be solved?

“The other question I would ask is do these issues affect performance and results?

“With the quality of players that Chelsea have in their team and with the performances we saw against Barcelona and against Arsenal, they have a very good team, but for some reason now Maresca is not getting the best out of these players.

“You can feel it at Stamford Bridge. You can feel the disconnect between the team and the fans and it needs to be remedied very quickly.”

Analysis: Maresca and Chelsea failed to seize the opportunity to start

Ron Walker from Sky Sports:

“At the end of last season it looked like there was a chance to build something, as Enzo Maresca took a young Chelsea side back to the Champions League, then the Conference League and Club World Cup.

“How much progress has been made six months on? Judging by the boos during and after the Blues’ last poor result against Bournemouth, not much.

“Looking at the Premier League table, this seems a harsh assessment, with Chelsea well placed for a Champions League place.

“But just like when Frank Lampard became the latest managerial casualty of the Roman Abramovich era, it’s the direction of travel that is the problem. Halfway through 2025/26, they are five points worse off than at this point last year and they are adrift.

“Maresca finds himself blamed for most, but not all, of the underlying issues. Excessive rotation is a long-term problem – Chelsea have made 55 lineup changes this season, with Wolves the only other team with more than 50.

“Not all of this is down to his own failings. The team remains woefully short of strength in depth in some areas, and short of experience almost throughout – the starting line-up against Bournemouth was the youngest named in a Premier League game this season.

“Maresca has been rightly praised for his tactics to win the Club World Cup this summer, but little progress has been made on that front more widely. He has described himself as a big-game manager – and wins against Liverpool and Barcelona at Stamford Bridge this season, as well as a 10-all draw against Arsenal, are a good testament to that.

“But that run of seven points from 21 included a defeat against Leeds and four points dropped against a Bournemouth side without a win in nine. It would probably also have counted a defeat at Newcastle if Trevoh Chalobah had been penalized for what appeared to be a blatant penalty.

“There were times when a bond seemed to be building between Maresca and the fans. The two trophies last season and the jubilant scenes after the victory at Tottenham earlier this season come to mind.

“But prickly comments in public have done little to create the ‘us against the world’ mindset that these fans have felt under Jose Mourinho, Thomas Tuchel and even Frank Lampard over the past two decades.

“Ultimately, it’s the results that can turn things around for Maresca. It’s the cold hard currency that buys coaches time at Chelsea.”

“We don’t have the impression that everyone is singing from the same sheet of music at Chelsea”

Sky Sports’ Alan Smith on Sky Sports News:

“They don’t all sing the same anthem at Chelsea. We talk a lot about Maresca and the sporting directors. They want to go one way and he wants a little more experience in the team.

“Chelsea’s head coach perhaps needs to take more direction than some other managers in the Premier League.

“Chelsea as a club seem to want to sign more young players who they can sell on for a profit, but that doesn’t always win you football matches.

“Maresca has also been criticized for his management of the game and this is sometimes justified. He has failed to change the course of matches.

“From that perspective, it looks like there could be a separation in the not too distant future.

“There has been talk of Liam Rosenior coming from Strasbourg and that doesn’t seem to be going away. He’s a young manager and it would be a huge step forward.

“But overall there are quite a few problems at Stamford Bridge at the moment.”

Chelsea’s January matches as a crucial month looms for Maresca…

Can Enzo Maresca improve ChelseaThe results in January?

The Blues have difficult meetings ahead…

Sunday January 4: Man City (A) – Premier League, kick-off at 5:30 p.m. (live on Aerial sports)
Wednesday January 7: Fulham (A) – Premier League, kick-off at 7:30 p.m. (live on Aerial sports)
Saturday January 10: Charlton (A) – FA Cup, kick-off at 8 p.m. (live on Aerial sports)
Wednesday January 14: Arsenal (H) – Carabao Cup, kick-off at 8 p.m. (live on Aerial sports)
Saturday January 17: Brentford (H) – Premier League, kick-off at 3 p.m.
Wednesday January 21: Paphos (H) – Champions League, kick-off at 8 p.m.
Sunday January 25: Crystal Palace (A) – Premier League, kick-off at 2 p.m. (live on Aerial sports)
Wednesday January 28: Naples (A) – Champions League, kick-off at 8 p.m.
Saturday January 31: West Ham (H) – Premier League, kick-off at 5:30 p.m. (live on Aerial sports)