“When he plays…” – Chelsea are a “different side” when this player starts says Sky pundit | OneFootball

At the conclusion of an exciting weekend in the Premier League, all attention will turn to Stamford Bridge for the cherry on top – Liverpool’s game against Chelsea.

They’re already talking about the game on Sky Sports, where Danny Sturridge (who played for both clubs) gave his view on Enzo Maresca’s first season in charge and how he sees his future.

Sturridge picks out key player Chelsea have missed

Romeo Lavia on the sidelines. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

“This season I think they’ve had injuries to pivotal players, how they’ve performed this season is close to last year, so I wouldn’t say it’s been a terrible year,” the former striker said.

“But the expectation would be that they would be performing better on the pitch, the performances aren’t quite there, that they would like to see, the football sometimes isn’t how it should be. But I think in the end they’ve got players coming back now – Romeo Lavia, I think when he plays they’re a different side, and I think he helps them to be the team that Maresca wants them to play like,” Sturridge continued, picking out the Belgian midfielder who has missed swathes of the season but should be fit to start today as a key absence for Maresca and Chelsea over the course of the season.

You can see Sturridge speaking in the clip embedded here:

Maresca backed for long term success by Sturridge

Overall, Sturridge was willing to back Maresca to improve with time, although his tone was a little hesitant and he certainly wasn’t giving massive backing to the Blues boss.

“Going forward they will improve, it does take time. Managers nowadays they don’t get as much time as sometimes they deserve. I think he is a manager whose system, over the course of seasons, will be successful. And I do believe he is a good manager, but we’re in a day and age where managers don’t get time. So it’s a results business, at the end of the day.