Marc Cucurella breaks silence on Chelsea vs Nottingham Forest brawl amid double Maresca blow
Marc Cucurella was involved in a chaotic brawl during the late stages of Chelsea's feisty Premier League clash with Nottingham Forest. Following a dull first half, the Blues fell behind in the 49th minute with Chris Wood on target, though Noni Madueke swiftly got his side back on level terms with a smart finish from just inside the box.
Both sides pushed for a winner but that soon changed to one-way traffic following James Ward-Prowse's sending off after he picked up a second yellow card for delaying the restart. Enzo Maresca threw on Christopher Nkunku and Joao Felix in search of a second goal that would ultimately prove decisive, however the game ended level.
Nkunku had a great chance to score but he was denied by Mats Sels and though that was a huge opportunity, it was not the biggest highlight of the final knockings. With two minutes of normal time remaining, Neco Williams chased down a loose ball before shoving Cucurella to the floor and knocking over Maresca in the process.
An angry Levi Colwill quickly got into the face of Williams with cameras also appearing to catch Jackson, who had been substituted, raise his hand at Morata. Once Chris Kavanagh had got matters back under control, he showed yellow cards to Cucurella, Williams and Colwill.
In the wake of the incident, Cucurella has taken to social media but the Chelsea star has opted to focus on the result and not the huge bust-up that occurred. On Instagram, he wrote: "Definitely not the result we wanted. See you in two weeks, Blues [blue heart emoji]."
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Of course for Cucurella it will be a longer absence with his next chance to play for Chelsea set to arrive on Thursday, October 24 against Panathinaikos. Though he and Fofana have been key for the Blues this season, Maresca has some great options to replace them.
Renato Veiga has been impressing in the cup competitions and could be given a chance to make his second Premier League start. In the centre of defence, Tosin Adarabioyo could be in line to come in for Fofana given his last league start resulted in Chelsea keeping a clean sheet against West Ham.