“No pressure” on Maresca to win the league, but Chelsea “have targets”

Jacob Steinberg at the Guardian is a known Chelsea hater, but he covers the club closely and knows what’s going on.

Ahead of the game against Arsenal, he took a look at the big picture, 18 months into Enzo Maresca’s time at the club. Expectations are rising constantly as our place in the table improves, but the club want to keep everything grounded even in periods of good form.

Chelsea happy with Maresca and on course to hit targets again

Enzo Maresca at Stamford Bridge. (Photo by Alex Broadway/Getty Images)

“There is no pressure on Maresca to win the league this season,” Steinberg writes in his piece today.

“The 45-year-old has targets to hit but Chelsea will not review his work until next summer. They have zero desire to be forced into sacking a manager during a season again. Chelsea want stability and are only just getting going.”

Maresca has a season and a half of credit already in the bank, and after hitting those targets last season he’s on course to do so again. Even taking into account the fact there’s likely to be at least one bad spell between now and the end of the season, the big picture is that the coach is doing well and will be in place for some time, especially with the new ownership trying to shake off their record of sacking managers quickly.

In other news…

Moises Caicedo is going to be key for Chelsea today as the Blues look to take on Arsenal in the Premier League. We need him at full power to have a chance.

Another potentially massive factor in the game tomorrow will be whether Wesley Fofana is risked. He’s a top player, but already played 90 minutes against Barcelona in midweek, and now Enzo Maresca has to decide whether to risk him again.