Chelsea boss Maresca explains Madueke snub v Fulham with blunt two-word response

Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca says leaving Noni Madueke out of his squad against Fulham on Boxing Day was a “technical decision”.

Madueke didn’t even make the bench for the Blues’ surprise home defeat to their west London rivals.

Marco Silva’s side scored two late goals to win 2-1 at Stamford Bridge on Thursday, dealing a huge blow to Chelsea‘s Premier League title challenge.

Following the defeat, questions have been asked of Maresca, who surprisingly left Madueke out of his squad.

Asked to explain the winger’s absence, the Italian simply said: “Technical decision”.

Harry Wilson equalised for Fulham in the 82nd minute before Rodrigo Muniz’s 95th-minute winner, cancelling out Cole Palmer’s fantastic opener.

“It is a shame, especially in the way we lost the game in the last minute,” Maresca said after the result.

“It happened and now it is about recovering energy and ready to go again in a couple of days.

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“We could have managed the game better, controlled better, but it is a game we can learn things.

“We have said many times we are a very, very young team but the most important thing is to see them growing and improving.

“Tomorrow we are in recovery and on Saturday we prepare for Monday game. It is important to recover the energy.

“I said many times no matter if we win games or don’t it is more the reality we can see inside that for many reason we are not ready [for a title challenge]. The most important thing is to see the team improve.”

Losing to Fulham does not take away from Chelsea’s strong start to the season. They are currently second in the Premier League, which nobody saw coming.

The Blues were also perfect in the Europa Conference League league phase and are the strong favourites to win that competition.

On Match of the Day, all-time Premier League leading goalscorer Alan Shearer said Chelsea should be happy with their league standing.

“When you look at where they are now, there is no doubt they would have taken it [at the start of the season],” Shearer said.

“I still think they will finish in the top four which will be a brilliant achievement for them and I think they will win the Conference League also.

“They will [still] be really happy with the things that are happening at Stamford Bridge.”

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