Enzo Maresca makes damning Chelsea admission amid Cole Palmer struggles
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has pulled no punches with his assessment of the Blues' top four hopes as Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson continue to struggle for goals
Enzo Maresca admits Chelsea cannot qualify for the Champions League this season unless Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson end their scoring droughts. And if the faltering Blues come unstuck two stops down the District Line in tomorrow’s derby at Fulham, the mood at Stamford Bridge is likely to darken.
Chelsea’s top scorer in 2025 is left-back Marc Cucurella, and they look shorn of conviction in front of goal during Thursday night’s home defeat by Legia Warsaw in the Europa Conference League - even if the Blues booked a semi-final date with Swedish underdogs Djurgarden 4-2 on aggregate.
England forward Palmer’s slump in form is the most alarming symptom of Maresca’s struggle to get a tune out of his £1.5 billion squad. Last season’s 24-goal top scorer has become a pale shadow of the player who scored the equaliser in England’s Euro 2024 final against Spain.
He looks tired, confused playing a more central role after his free-scoring plunder on the right flank under Mauricio Pochettino, and he has not scored since January 14.
READ MORE: Premier League could have SEVEN teams in Champions League after Man Utd heroicsREAD MORE: Chelsea limp into Europa Conference League semi-finals after dismal Legia Warsaw defeatJackson is without a goal in 12 games going back to December, while Christopher Nkunku is also on a barren eight-game streak. Maresca played all three in his starting line-up against Legia to try and boost their confidence and physical condition. But Chelsea failed to answer their head coach’s call to “engage” the fans, and the manner of their defeat only intensified the alarm bells ringing during last Sunday’s dismal first-half display against lowly Ipswich.
Asked whether the Blues could fulfil their twin objectives of Champions League football and a trophy without Palmer and Jackson hitting the goal trail again, Maresca replied: “No.”
Simple as that? “Yeah - hopefully, very soon Nico and Cole can start to score goals because they are very important for us. The one scoring at the moment is Cucurella. That is not a good thing because he is not the one to score the goals.
"It's the first moment for Cole when he's struggled in general. The only thing he has to do is to continue working hard, because for sure very soon he's going to start scoring goals for us. They just told me that in his first 20 Premier League games, he scored, I think, 14 goals. So to score 14 goals in 20 games is a huge number, a fantastic number.
"Now it's a moment for him where he's struggled, but he has to continue because for sure he's going to score goals very soon. For sure, a moment where you struggle is part of their career, their process, their season. Last year he had a fantastic season. This season we said many times that the way the team approaches him is in a different way. Most of the time he's being marked man to man. That is more difficult for any player in the world.
"But even with that, he scored 14 goals in 20 games, the first 20 games. So for me it's just a matter of a bad moment, and in the moment that he's able to score a goal, it will probably change again."
Chelsea head to Craven Cottage in danger of missing out on Champions League football next season altogether - they were Liverpool ’s closest challengers at the top in the reverse fixture on Boxing Day.
They face a daunting run-in, with games against Liverpool, Newcastle and Nottingham Forest - three of the teams above them - next month. But Maresca denies it is a bad time to be taking on the neighbours, insisting: "In this moment, there is no bad time. In this moment, there is only a right time to play any game.
“We have six Premier League games, plus the two semi-final games. So at the moment, we have eight official games to play and all of them is a good time to play. Now is the moment to go (for it) if we want to reach something."
Skipper Reece James admitted Chelsea “disrespected the competition” after their first defeat in Europe since the return leg against Servette in Switzerland in last August’s qualifier. James said: ”We had a 3-0 lead, maybe that played a part in taking our foot off the gas. We are making progress but that was not progress. If anything it was a step back.
"Maybe we disrespected the competition. If you don't prepare right, you will pay. It's going to affect the mindset. It's going to be in the back of people's heads. I understand the frustration. Fans come to see excitement, we were frustrating to watch.”
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