Enzo Maresca explains what has gone wrong for Chelsea

Enzo Maresca has admitted Chelsea are struggling at both ends of the pitch as they find themselves on a run of just three wins from 12 games.

The Blues were outside contenders for the Premier League title in December but have failed to take advantage of a friendly run of fixtures, with Saturday's defeat to Aston Villa leaving them seventh in the latest league standings.

Asked to explain what has gone wrong for his side, Maresca insisted Chelsea have simply lost their touch both in attack and defence.

"Probably there is always more than one reason," he began. "I think in the last seven, eight, ten games, the huge difference for me has been especially inside the box - in both boxes.

"[Apart from] Brighton away in the Premier League, in all the rest we always created chances, we almost always scored, so the difference probably has been inside the box. We need to be defensively more strong and more clinical when we get the chance."

Quantifying Chelsea's struggles is a tally of 13 points dropped from winning positions since Boxing Day, more than any other team in the division.

"I don't know [what that tells me]," Maresca said when presented with the statistic. "I don't have an answer for that. I knew this, that we dropped 13 points from winning positions.

"Sometimes it's football. Sometimes there is a reason why. We are trying to understand a little bit. The good thing is at least you were in front in these kinds of games but now it is the other part, when you are in front and trying to protect that.

"In almost all these games, we analyse we have chances to go from 1-0 to 2-0, from 0-1 to 0-2, and we miss more than once. Even the other day, against Villa, we had four or five chances for 0-2, 0-2, 0-2. If you miss, the game is always open and anything can happen, but for sure, it is something we need to understand."

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