Reece James reacts to Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat to Legia Warsaw [H] to tntsportsfootball in the Conference League quarter-final second leg:

💯 “That was for sure not progress; if anything, it was a step back. Maybe we disrespected the competition tonight [Thursday], but this is football; if you don’t prepare right, you will pay.

“I understand the frustration [from the fans] to be honest. I understand fans come to games to see excitement, to see goals. We were frustrating to watch. We remain focused and we still stick together and look forward to achieving what we want together.”

#CFC #Chelsea #ChelseaFC #UECL

Enzo Maresca ahead of Fulham [A] in the Premier League:

📈 𝐎𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬:

“Romeo [Lavia] is back. He is training with us and can be available for Sunday’s game. With him, we are going to try the same thing we are trying with Reece [James].

“I would like to play Reece every three days, but we are trying to manage him to help him. We will try to do exactly the same thing with Romeo because, for us, he is an important player.

“We rest Enzo [Fernandez], Moi [Caicedo], Levi [Colwill], Noni [Madueke], Pedro [Neto], we rest many players.

“We are, for sure, not happy about the Conference League result, but at the same time, we try to manage a little bit and rotate players.”

👀 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐟 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐍𝐢𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐬 𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠:

“No.

“But I am confident [they will] because they have scored goals. It’s just a moment that they need to turn a little bit that moment. But I said before, Cole scored 14 goals in 20 Premier League games. So he scored goals. Nico was the same before the injury. Now, unfortunately, Nico was out for two months, so probably physicality needs a little bit more. And this is the same for Cole.”

🤝 𝐎𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐰𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 & 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬:

“Yeah, absolutely, yes.

“I tried to explain yesterday. We cannot change the idea the day after. I said yesterday, and if I need I’ll say it again. In the last two years, Chelsea has been zero times top four, top five. This season we spent all season, almost all season, top four, top five, Champions League spots.

“We are in a semi-final of a European competition. So why now we need to change something? I think I don’t have any doubt about what we are doing, in the way we are doing, and for different reasons. We had some bad moments or some setbacks during the season, for sure. But this, for me, makes us stronger for the future.”

(Via ChelseaFC & Vincent - Football London)

Easter Sunday football. ✊🔵

#CFC | #FULCHE

Your Chelsea side today! 🚨

#CFC | #FULCHE

Robert Sanchez with his 50th appearance for Chelsea 🇪🇸

His stats so far:
⦾ 49 Matches
⦾ 12 Clean Sheets
⦾ 63 Goals Conceded
⦾ 6 Errors leading to goal [5 this season]

#CFC #Chelsea #ChelseaFC

Let's go, Chelsea! 🫡

⚪️ 0-0 🔵 [1] #CFC | #FULCHE

FT: Fulham 1-2 Chelsea

Chelsea XI: Sanchez, James (C) (Gusto 45’) (Tosin 89’), Chalobah, Colwill, Cucurella, Caicedo, Enzo, Madueke (Sancho 45’), Palmer, Neto, Jackson (George 77’)

Bench: Jorgensen, Tosin, Badiashile, Acheampong, Gusto, Lavia, Dewsbury-Hall, Sancho, George

Unused substitutes: Jorgensen, Badiashile, Acheampong, Lavia, Dewsbury-Hall

🟨 Yellow cards: Colwill (29’), Cucurella (79’), Caicedo (84’), Enzo Maresca (95’)

Fulham XI: Leno, Tete, Andersen, Bassey, Robinson (C), Berge, Lukic, Sessegnon, Pereira, Iwobi, Jimenez

Bench: Benda, Castagne, Cuenco, Reed, Cairney, Wilson, Adama, Willian, Vinicius

🔵 G/A for Chelsea from:

Tyrique George ⚽️ [83’]
Pedro Neto ⚽️ [93’]
Enzo Fernandez 🅰️

⚪️ Goal for Fulham from:

Alex Iwobi ⚽️ [20’]

Thoughts on the game? ⬇️

#CFC #Chelsea #ChelseaFC #

Enzo Maresca on Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Fulham [A] in the Premier League:

💪 “Today was an important win because first of all it’s a derby, second it gives us the chance to be there [in the Champions League qualification places].

“It was probably the most difficult win [of the season] and the reason why is because they all played yesterday, so for us it was a must-win game. And I think after we conceded the goal, that is the reason why we struggled a bit more because for the players it became more difficult and second half we were much better.”

🤝 On why Maresca didn’t celebrate with the fans at full-time:

“I was very happy, first of all because it’s a nice feeling to win the game at the end but I think it was a moment for the players because they deserve to share that moment with the fans. So this is the reason why I left the pitch immediately.

“When we scored the second one, I celebrated and this is the reason why they gave me a yellow card. But for sure I think it was a nice moment for the players and for the fans to share that moment, it’s important and, I said already many times, the players need to feel the support.”

💫 On Tyrique George, who netted his first Premier League goal:

“I’m very happy for Tyrique, him and Josh Acheampong, both from the academy, we decided to promote them because they are good talent, [and] they have to [keep] working hard.”

🔥 On Pedro Neto’s goal:

“Pedro’s goal, we all know that Pedro is better in the right side but we also have Noni [Madueke], we have also Jadon [Sancho], so I try to decide game by game but Pedro is doing well since he arrived here.”

👀 On why Christopher Nkunku was left out of the squad:

“It was just a technical decision.”

🤕 On Malo Gusto’s injury, who was forced off during the second-half:

“Unfortunately it’s not a good one, a muscle problem and you can see against Ipswich, second half he was inside, changed the game, today he was inside, changed the game, how important is Malo for us and unfortunately it looks like a muscle injury.”

(Via ChelseaFC & Bobby Vincent - Football London)

Enzo Maresca will serve a one-match touchline ban against Everton after receiving his third yellow card of the season on Sunday.

Maresca was cautioned for celebrating Pedro Neto’s winner over Fulham.

Maresca’s three yellows cards this season:

🟡 Fulham (Anthony Taylor)
🟡 Newcastle (Simon Hooper)
🟡 Bournemouth (Anthony Taylor)

[Kieran Gill - Daily Mail]

#CFC #Chelsea #ChelseaFC #FULCHE