Enzo Maresca sends strong message over Chelsea future
- Maresca under increasing pressure as Chelsea form dwindles
- Chelsea beaten in back-to-back games by Brighton in FA Cup and Premier League
- Italian received backing of director Jonathan Goldstein in midweek
Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca says he's not at the club simply to survive and is instead focused on challenging for titles in the future.
The Italian, appointed on a five-year contract last summer to replace Mauricio Pochettino, started the season superbly, leading Chelsea into the Premier League's top two at one stage.
That promising opening to the campaign inevitably led to talk of challenging for the Premier League title, but Maresca himself played down those chances pretty swiftly, stating he needed more time to implement his ideas and bed in a raft of new signings.
Chelsea's form has alarmingly dropped off since a Boxing Day defeat to neighbourhood rivals at Fulham at Stamford Bridge, culminating in just three wins from the club's last 11 games across all competitions.
Supporters have started to get twitchy in recent weeks, fuelling rumours of a possible sacking, and the noise prompted co-owner Jonathan Goldstein to publicly state that Maresca retains the board's full backing earlier in the week.
Maresca was probed about Goldstein's comments in his latest news conference, ahead of the trip to Aston Villa, and the former Leicester City boss was adamant that he's not just looking to keep hold of his job until the end of the season.
"I have been clear from day one: I am not here to survive, I am here to win games and to fight for titles," Maresca said. "I said this many times. The problem is when you win games you look humble and when you lose games it looks like you lack ambition.
"Since day one when I joined this club, my intention has been to win games, win titles and bring this club to where they deserve to be. I am ambitious, the club is ambitious. We have the same manager, same players, same sporting directors, same owners as two months ago when we were second in the league.
"The only thing that has changed is we are dealing with many injuries and this affects the level of the team a little bit."
Referencing Goldstein's backing, Maresca added: "It is nice (to hear) and I really appreciate the relationship with the club since we started. They have always supported me, whether in the better moment in terms of results and in the worse moment in terms of results like we are having now. (The backing has come from) the sporting directors, the owners, all the club to be honest."
Maresca's cause has not been helped in recent weeks by an injury to leading striker Nicolas Jackson, who has now been joined on the sidelines by Noni Madueke. Their absence ramps up the pressure on Cole Palmer to deliver the goals for Chelsea – he's without a goal in his last four Premier League outings having flown out of the traps with 14 goals in the season's first 21 matches.
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