Enzo Maresca denies he told winger to play for his Chelsea future, despite upturn in form | OneFootball

Enzo Maresca’s press conference previewing today’s vital Premier League game against Fulham saw the coach asked beforehand about Jadon Sancho, who racked up another assist in the Conference League on Thursday to improve his numbers for the season further. Maresca was asked whether he had told his winger to play for his future at Chelsea, but denied it:

“No, the only thing we said to Jadon, and all our offensive players, is that we need more, in terms of numbers, goals and assists. So Jadon, as you said in the last games, is doing better. But we need goal and assist from Nico, from Cole, from Noni, from Pedro, from Enzo, who is doing well, from the ones that arrived in the opposite box.”

If you were being cruel, you’d point out that Sancho’s real improvement has come because he’s faced some soft Conference League opposition recently – although his goal last week was a cracker.

Maresca says it’s a “good time to play” any game as Blues face 8 game battle to define their season

Enzo Maresca speaks post-Legia defeat, trying to rally his troops for a huge Premier League match on Sunday.

As well as Sancho’s form and Santos’ future, Maresca was also asked about the game coming up later today. It was put to him that playing a potentially intense London derby away from home when his team desperately need a result is probably not ideal. But he denied there was a “bad time” to play a game, especially considering all 8 remaining “official games” of the season were all going to be hugely important:

“No, no, 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.”