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Five Chelsea stars in danger as brutal Enzo Maresca shake-up considered after honest statement

Pedro Neto in action
-Credit:Vince Mignott/MB Media


Enzo Maresca is not used to this at Chelsea. In the Premier League, he has only had to deal with it twice up until now.

How do you get your players to respond positively after defeat? How do you pick them up after a heart-breaking, agonising, late defeat to Fulham on Boxing Day? These are just a couple of the questions facing the Italian coach ahead of Chelsea's visit to Ipswich Town early next week.

Well, in an honest statement after the defeat to their west London neighbours, Maresca revealed he is set to make some changes to the line-up for when they go to Portman Road on Monday evening. "For sure, after a game, you need to go again no matter the result," the Chelsea head coach explained.

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"Especially this month; I think in December, we already played eight or nine games in 25 or 27 days. So now it is also important to recover the energy and go again on Monday and then if we are going to make one change, two changes or three changes, we will see. Now it is a bit early but for sure, we are going to change something."

After what was a fairly dismal performance against Fulham, where Chelsea failed to seize control of the match at Stamford Bridge, you could argue there are as many as five players at risk of being dropped at Ipswich. Malo Gusto is one of them. The Frenchman failed to add much to the Blues' performance and was caught out down the hosts' right-hand side on numerous occasions throughout the 90-or-so minutes.

Tosin Adarabioyo, who was excellent in the draw with Everton just four days before, did not have his best day at the office either. The 27-year-old defender was caught ball-watching for the away side's equalising goal on 82 minutes and showed a lack of awareness to Harry Wilson's run in behind him.

Robert Sanchez has been widely criticised this season and Boxing Day saw the Spaniard make another costly decision. Instead of going short, Sanchez tried to go long and gifted Fulham, who were on top at the time, possession. The rest is history as Rodrigo Muniz scored what proved to be the winning goal on the break in SW6.

Meanwhile, the two wingers were both criticised for their performances against Fulham. While both Jadon Sancho and Pedro Neto tracked back and defended well, neither could provide the attacking output required when playing a very strong side like Fulham.

It sounds like Noni Madueke is waiting in the wings, too, with Maresca replying this when asked about how the winger has reacted to being dropped earlier this season: "Fantastic. Very good. He responded very good at that time, so there is no more than that."

"Yeah, absolutely," Maresca continued when asked if he is expecting the same from the England international this time. Joao Felix, meanwhile, will surely get some game-time sooner rather than later. The 25-year-old forward has not featured in the Premier League since coming on as a late substitute in the win against Tottenham a few weeks ago.