Enzo Maresca confirms Chelsea injury blow after 'worst performance' against Brighton

Chelsea have suffered an injury blow to rub salt in the wounds of their heavy away defeat to Brighton. The Blues suffered their second defeat in less than a week against the Seagulls on Friday night, also losing to them in the FA Cup last weekend.

This time around, Chelsea were beaten 3-0, with a ruled out Enzo Fernandez goal the only brief moment of hope. Not only are the Blues now likely to drop out of the top four this weekend, but they have also suffered an injury setback.

Speaking after the game, Blues boss Enzo Maresca confirmed that Noni Madueke is set for a period on the sidelines, while Malo Gusto, who was also forced off, is in better shape. “Malo is okay. Noni unfortunately has a hamstring problem so unfortunately will be out for a little while.,” he confirmed at full-time.

Maresca also had his say on the performance itself, and he was clearly unimpressed with what he saw from his men. He added: “Probably since I arrived that is the worst performance, especially in the moment we are in. We are fourth in the league and winning tonight you can go one point from third and make the gap to the rest bigger.

“The performance is not one you want to offer, so we are very upset, and especially very sorry for the fans who were here, and in general to our fans, because in this moment you cannot offer this kind of performance with 14 games to go, now 13 games to go. In terms of desire, we need to show more.”

Chelsea will now likely drop out of the top four over the course of the weekend, and they are going to get their act together ahead of a crucial top four six-pointer with Aston Villa next weekend. They then have more winnable fixtures against Southampton and Leicester City before facing Arsenal.

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