ENZO Maresca says the ambition for the rest of the season is to finish in the Champions League places – and insists the only difference between now and the start of the season is injuries.
Chelsea were second in the table after seventeen games on the back of a nine-game unbeaten run, but since then have won only two of their last nine.
They beat this weekend’s opponents, Aston Villa, 3-0 in that unbeaten streak. Of the players involved in that game in December, Wesley Fofana, Benoit Badiashile, Romeo Lavia, Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson are injured, and Joao Felix left on loan for AC Milan in January.
The Blues have dropped to six, but are just a point off Manchester City in fourth.
“I think we spent almost the whole season in the top four,” Maresca said in Friday’s press conference. “Now we have just thirteen games to go, so for sure now, the target for us now is to try and finish in the top four, to finish in the best way.
“We are going to try to do our best to achieve that, knowing that the difficult moment we have now is probably one of the reasons why, and the most important reason why, is because of the injury situation: we have five or six players, significant players, that are out.
“I was watching two days ago the first game against Villa and unfortunately, we have five players in that game that are out: Wes, Noni, Nico, Romeo. So the team changed completely and it’s something this season happens almost with many clubs. Arsenal have injuries, City have injuries and we are going to try our best to win games even with the amount of injuries we have.
“I’ve always been clear since day one. I’m not here to – and I’ve said this already a few times – I’m not here to survive, I’m here to win games, I’m here to bring this club to fight for titles. I’ve said this already many times but the problem is, when you win games, you look humble and when you don’t win games, you look like you lack ambition.
“Since day one, I joined this club and my intention was to win games, win titles and to bring this club where this club deserves to be. I’ve said this since day one. If you review all of my press conferences, I always say the same. The problem is when you win, you look humble and when you don’t win, you look like you lack ambition.
“I’m ambitious, the club is ambitious. We have the same manager, same players, same owners and same sporting directors from two months ago when we were second in the league. Nothing has changed. The only thing that has changed is we are dealing with many injuries and this has affected a little bit the level of the team.”
There are set to be problems off the pitch to go with the ones on it, as Chelsea fans are reported to be organising a protest against owners Clearlake Capital before next Tuesday’s game against Southampton at Stamford Bridge.
Maresca was asked about that on Friday.
Hew replied: “The only thing I can say is that every time the fans have been behind us, we really appreciate it because we are sure with the fans behind, we can achieve soon our target. We have thirteen games left to go with seven of them at home and I think winning the seven at home can be enough to finish top four. It’s a motivation for them, a motivation for us.”
