Enzo Maresca has reminded fans who are considering protesting against Chelsea’s ownership that winning all seven home matches left will gain CL qualification.
Chelsea are set to face Aston Villa on Saturday, hoping to improve after securing only three wins from their last 12 games in all competitions. This poor run has seen the team fall behind in the title race and drop to sixth place in the standings. A group of supporters is planning to protest against the club’s owners, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, ahead of next Tuesday’s match against Southampton at Stamford Bridge, although the scale of the protest remains uncertain.
At a press conference on Friday, Maresca called for unity and outlined a clear goal: winning all of Chelsea’s home games to guarantee a top-four finish.
“The message I can give is that every time the fans have supported us, it means a lot. We truly believe that with their backing, we can achieve our goal very soon,” Maresca said. “We have about 13 matches left this season, seven of them at home. I believe that winning all seven at home will be enough to secure a top-four finish, so this is a motivation for everyone. It’s something we talk about often in the dressing room—how great it feels when the fans are behind us.”
Reflecting on recent home victories, Maresca noted, “In the last two home Premier League games against Wolves and West Ham, we won both, and especially the West Ham match, where we were 1-0 down but managed to come back and win with the fans behind us. We’re truly grateful for their support, and we ask them to stay with us until the end because we’re confident we’ll all finish happy.”
Maresca also received a public show of backing from Chelsea’s leadership this week. Director Jonathan Goldstein stated that Maresca would “100 percent” remain in charge for the remainder of the season, even after the team’s disappointing 3-0 loss at Brighton last Friday. Goldstein told Bloomberg TV that Maresca was “doing a great job.”
When asked about Goldstein’s comments, Maresca responded, “It’s nice. I truly appreciate the relationship I have with the club, especially through both good and tough moments like now. They’ve always supported me—the sporting director, the owner, everyone at the club.”
“I’ve been clear since day one. I’m not here just to survive. I’m here to win matches, to fight for titles. I’ve said this many times. The issue is when you win, you appear humble, but when you don’t, you seem lacking in ambition. My goal from the very start has always been to win games, win titles, and bring the club where it belongs. If you review my press conferences, you’ll see I’ve repeated this.”
“I’m ambitious, the club is ambitious. We have the same manager, players, sporting directors, and owners as we did two months ago when we were second in the league. Nothing has changed except that we’ve had to deal with many injuries, and that has had an impact on the team’s performance.”
Noni Madueke will be unavailable until after the international break due to a hamstring injury, joining a list of sidelined players, including Nicolas Jackson, Romeo Lavia, Wesley Fofana, Mykhailo Mudryk, and Marc Guiu.
